The first Algerian
film was released during French colonization when the Lumière brothers
commissioned photographers to document
Algerian cities, nature, and people. One
of the most prominent photographers of that period was Felix Mesgesh, who produced
several silent documentaries about Algerian cities.
اضافة اعلان
The history of
Algerian cinema, however, began at the heart of the war of liberation. Starting
in the 1960s, Algeria became the dominant cinematographic hub of the
Maghreb region as the struggle for independence gave filmmakers a decisive ideological
impulse.
During the first
cinematic era, which lasted from 1962 to 1972, the main question revolved
around bringing the most striking details of the liberation movement to the
screen.
Algerian cinema in times of war
During the war, France used cinema as propaganda to improve the image of
occupation and consolidate stereotypes about Algerians. Film titles from that
period included “Funny Muslim”, “Ali drinks oil”, and other lines depicting
Algeria in caricature.
In the 1950s,
French anti-colonialist Roné Fouté proposed to the revolution’s leaders a
production of a film on the liberation war showing the Algerian cause to the
world and highlighting France’s attacks on Algerian peoples. The leadership was
impressed by the idea, and in 1957, a film production unit was established to
document Algeria’s experience.
The first film
crew was assembled in 1957 by a group of directors led by the French activist
René Vautier. They produced a major work, Algeria in Flames (1959).
From 1957 to
1962, Algerian cinema provided a space of solidarity, exchange, and expression
for members of the Algerian elite and French intellectuals who sympathized with
the liberation movement, including key figures in the future of Algerian cinema
like Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina and Ahmed Rachedi. Another French activist, Jacques
Charby, directed the first post-independence feature, Al-Salam Al-Walid (1965).
Post-liberation on screen
Upon Algeria’s independence in July 1962, Algerian cinema entered its
second phase as the independent nation began to legislate and regulate the
cultural sector, including cinema. Laws were introduced, and cinema halls were
nationalized as the government started encouraging film production.
Director Lakhdar
Hamina produced two feature films during this phase, in 1966 and 1967.
The 70s: A decade of calm
The 1970s was the only decade during which administrative upheavals did
not interrupt Algerian film production. This may have contributed to the uptake
in film production, with 35 feature films produced during this decade. Most of
these films addressed the revolution or focused on socialist ideas.
During this
decade, Ahmed Lakhdar Hamina released Chronicle of the Years of Embers, the
first African film to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes International Film
Festival in France in 1975.
The 80s: Films born out of struggle
On October 8, 1988, due to the economic crisis in Algeria caused by the
collapse of oil prices, the country witnessed demonstrations and events that prompted
the government to open up the space for party pluralism. Despite the upheaval,
established Algerian filmmakers continued producing films throughout this
decade.
Some Algerian
filmmakers immigrated to France, including Okacha Touita, whose “
The Sacrificed”
(1982) bluntly exposes the internal divisions in the liberation movement in
France during the Algerian war.
In the 1980s,
self-taught filmmakers also swelled the ranks of Algerian directors. Ali
Ghalem, who had left the African country to work in France, reappeared in the
Algerian audiovisual landscape to produce a film version of his novel, “A Wife
for My Son” (1982).
The 90s: Scripting a chaotic world
In 1991, the electoral trajectory was halted, and Algeria entered a
cycle of violence that led to the death of more than 200,000 Algerians and the
disappearance of thousands more. From this point until about 2002, the
government neglected the film sector, suspended funding to cinemas, and closed
theaters after a state of emergency was declared in 1992 when terrorist acts
targeted cinemas.
The upheavals
within the film industry and the chaos that settled in society as Islamic
fundamentalists clashed with politicians, and others are reflected in many of
the films produced in 1993 and 1994.
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