Algerian supernatural horror Roqia is finally getting a US release, with Yanis Koussim's feature debut arriving on digital and VOD on September 29, 2026.
The film has already spent the past year working its way through the international festival circuit, beginning with its 2025 Venice Critics' Week premiere before playing festivals including the Muslim International Film Festival.
This Is Not Your Usual Exorcism Movie
Roqia does use the basic ingredients of an exorcism story, but Koussim is doing something considerably more ambitious with them - the film takes place across two different periods in Algeria, where one storyline is set in the present and concerns an aging Muslim exorcist known as a Raqi, while the other goes back to the early 1990s and follows Ahmed, a man who survives a serious car accident and returns home suffering from amnesia.
Ahmed's family barely recognizes the man who comes back to them, as his face is covered in bandages, his memory has disappeared and strange visitors begin appearing at night, speaking in a language he doesn't understand.
Meanwhile, the older Raqi is struggling with his own declining health, leaving his disciple increasingly worried about what might happen if his mentor can no longer deal with the supernatural forces around them - the two stories gradually begin connecting, turning what initially looks like a conventional possession movie into something much bigger.
Koussim is also using the horror story to look at Algeria's Black Decade, the period of civil conflict that began in the early 1990s and left the country dealing with widespread violence, and rather than simply recreating those events as historical drama, he filters them through supernatural horror.
The title refers to ruqyah, the practice of reciting passages from the Quran as a form of spiritual healing. That becomes central to the film's supernatural mythology, with the Raqi using religious knowledge to deal with people who appear to be suffering from spiritual afflictions.
Ali Namous plays Ahmed, with Lydia Hanni as his wife Selma. Mostefa Djadjam plays the Raqi, while Akram Djeghim plays his disciple - the cast also includes Melissa Benyahia, Dounia Chaoui, Lahcen Chiba and Abdelkrim Derradji.
Roqia premiered at Venice Critics' Week in 2025 and went on to play internationally before reaching North America - the Museum of the Moving Image included it in its 2026 programming as its North American premiere, describing it as a horror fable that uses the exorcism genre to confront the history of Algeria's Black Decade.
Roqia will be released on digital and VOD in the United States on September 29, 2026.
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