Set in Nouadhibou, a windblown Mauritanian coastal town most people only pass through, Abderrahmane Sissako's drama takes its title from the local word for its temporary housing, heremakono, meaning waiting for happiness, and won a FIPRESCI Prize in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2002.
Fun fact: The film drew on Sissako's own experience of exile and return to build its portrait of a town defined entirely by people in transit.