Merzak Allouache | |
---|---|
![]() Allouache in 2017 | |
Born | Algiers, Algeria | 6 October 1940
Occupation | Film director |
Years active | 1972-present |
Notable work | Omar Gatlato |
Merzak Allouache (born 6 October 1940) [1] is an Algerian film director and screenwriter. His 1976 film Omar Gatlato was later entered into the 10th Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Silver Prize. [2] His 1996 Salut cousin! was submitted to the 69th Academy Awards in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. [3] He is one of the most influential Algerian filmmakers, considered by some to be the most important. [4] He is the only Algerian filmmaker who devoted most, if not all, of his cinematic work to his native country. [5]
Merzak Allouache was born in the Algiers neighborhood of Bab el-Oued. His father was a Kabyle Berber postal worker and his mother was an Algerian housewife from Casbah. [5] Allouache was only ten years old when the Algerian Liberation War began in 1954 and he was only eighteen during the year of independence in 1962. [5]
Merzak Allouache began his studies in 1964 at the Institute for Cinema in Algiers. [5] While there, he directed his graduation film, Croisement, as well as a short film, Le Voleur. When the Institute for Cinema closed, the students were redirected to Lodz or Paris. Allouache completed his studies at l’IDHEC (now called La Fémis) in Paris. [6]
Returning to Algeria, he spent a few months at the Algerian News Office and then was dismissed, along with his colleagues from the Institute for Cinema’s graduating class after a petition demanding more responsibility for the workers. To calm the protest, the group of alumni of the Institute for Cinema including Allouache was sent to France for a three-month internship at the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF). He remained in France for several years and enrolled at the École pratique des hautes études with Marc Ferro and took the course "Analysis of 20th century film documents".
Allouache returned to Algeria in 1973 and worked on organizing CinéBus campaigns in support of the agrarian revolution. He worked as an advisor for the Ministry of Culture. [5] He directed a documentary film about this work called Nous et la révolution agraire (Us and the Agrarian Revolution) in 1972. [7] In 1974, he co-directed for the Office National pour le Commerce et l'Industrie Cinématographique (ONCIC) Tipasa l'ancienne, a documentary on the site of Tipasa, in co-production with FR3 Marseille. Before joining ONCIC as a director in 1975, he was assistant director on Le Vent du Sud directed by Mohamed Slim Riad, also in 1974. [7]
He gained international fame in 1977 by directing his first feature film Omar Gatlato (1976), which takes a cynical but realistic look at the alienation of men in Algerian society, which was selected at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes and won a Silver Medal at the Moscow Film Festival. [8] Then he directed Les Aventures d'un héros in 1978, a film about an Algerian father who falsely labels his infant son as the hero his tribe has been waiting for, which received the Thanit d'or at the Carthage Film Festival, and directed L'Homme qui regardait les fenêtres in 1982.
Allouache returned to France and wrote a screenplay for TF1, Parlez après le signal sonore, and, in 1987, directed a feature film Un amour à Paris, a love story about two Algerians: a model and an ex-con, screened in the Perspectives of French Cinema section at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Perspectives of French Cinema Prize.
He returned to Algeria in 1988 in the aftermath of the October riots. [5] He filmed video documentaries on the political situation with many interviews that were gathered in three documentaries for ARTE: L'Après-Octobre, Femmes en mouvements, and Vie et mort des journalistes algériens. [5] In 1989, he directed a satirical program for Algerian television, La Boîte à chique, and then joined the National Audiovisual Council, a structure in charge of reforming cinematography when the Ministry of Culture was dissolved. In 1992, he directed a documentary for the BBC, Our War, Voice of Ramadan. In 1993, as Algeria sank into violence, he directed in extremis a feature film, Bab El-Oued City which follows the conflict between a young Algerian man and the local Islamic fundamentalists, screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival.
He was forced to leave for France once again in the 1990s due to dangerous conditions for working artists [5] In 1996, he directed a film about two cousins navigating racism in Paris, Salut Cousin , which was screened in the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, won a Thanit d'or at the Carthage Film Festival, and was submitted to the 69th Academy Awards. [9] After directing a series of films and TV movies, he returned to Algeria in 1999.
Since 2000, Allouache has alternated his productions or co-productions between Algeria and France, where he lives. In 2003, he directed Chouchou , starring Gad Elmaleh, about a Maghrebi transgender woman who settles in Paris to find her nephew. He directed Bab el-Web in 2004, a comedy about the effects of the internet on Algerian youth. This film was partially funded by French sources, with the stipulation that at least fifty-one percent of the dialogue be recorded in French, despite the fact that all of the characters were Algerian. [5]
In 2009, Allouache wrote and directed the film Harragas , the story of young Algerian refugees who fled their home country on small boats into the Mediterranean. The film was partly funded by the Algerian government. However, they did not like the end result and the Algerian government has subsequently boycotted Allouache’s films and refused further support. [5] His 2011 film, Normal! , about a filmmaker in the aftermath of the December riots, won the award for Best Film at the 2011 Doha Tribeca Film Festival. [10] This film was a commentary on the Algerian government’s amnesty policy for terrorists. [5] In 2012 he directed Le repenti ( The Repentant ), a film about an Islamist released from prison who struggles to understand forgiveness, which was screened at the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. [11] [12] It won a FIPRESCI Award at the 17th International Film Festival of Kerala. [13] In 2013 Les terrasses ( The Rooftops ) about life in Bab el-Oued, was screened at the Venice Film Festival [14] and in 2015 Madame courage , about a drug-user who tries to kick his habit, was screened at the Venice Film Festival. In 2016 a documentary fiction Enquête au paradis, which combines in-person interviews with a dramatized road trip was screened at the FIPA in Biarritz (Fipa d'or) at the Berlin Film Festival, [15] and in 2017 Vent divin was screened at the Toronto Film Festival.
His 2011 film Normal! won the award for Best Film at the 2011 Doha Tribeca Film Festival. [16] In 2012, his film The Repentant was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. [17] [18] It won the FIPRESCI Award for Best Asian Film at the 17th International Film Festival of Kerala. [19]
Allouache has one daughter, Bahia Allouache, who is also a filmmaker. [20]
Saïd Naceri, known as Samy Naceri, is a French actor known for his work in the four Taxi films and The Code.
The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, directed by Cristian Mungiu, was awarded with the Palme.
The 47th Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 1994. The Palme d'Or went to the American film Pulp Fiction directed by Quentin Tarantino.
The cinema of Lebanon, according to film critic and historian Roy Armes, is the only other cinema in the Arabic-speaking region, beside Egypt's, that could amount to a national cinema. Cinema in Lebanon has been in existence since the 1920s, and the country has produced more than 500 films.
The 49th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1996. The Palme d'Or went to Secrets & Lies by Mike Leigh.
The 30th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 27 May 1977. The Palme d'Or went to the Padre Padrone by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. A new non-competitive section, "Le Passé composé", is held at this festival only and focuses on compilations. This section, along with sections "Les Yeux fertiles" and "L'Air du temps" of the previous two years, were integrated into Un Certain Regard in 1978.
Bab El-Oued City is a 1994 Algerian drama film directed by Merzak Allouache. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Award.
Hadj Smaine Mohamed Seghir was an Algerian actor, director and thespian who was born in 1932 in Constantine, Algeria, France.
Cinema of Algeria refers to the film industry based in the north African country of Algeria.
The Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) was an annual five-day film festival that was organised from 2009 to 2012 to promote Arab and international films, and to develop a sustainable film industry in Qatar. One of Qatar's largest entertainment events, it attracted over 50,000 guests in 2010.
The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the president of the jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the president of the jury for the Un Certain Regard section. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.
Normal! is a 2011 Algerian drama film written and directed by Merzak Allouache. It won the Best Film Award at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, in 2011.
The Repentant is a 2012 Algerian drama film directed by Merzak Allouache. It was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. The film won the FIPRESCI Award for Best Asian Film at the 17th International Film Festival of Kerala. The film was inspired by a true story.
The Cordoba African Film Festival celebrated its ninth edition during 13–20 October 2012. The earlier eight editions were held in Tarifa. The ninth edition was hosted at Cordoba, a municipality located in Andalusia, Spain. The festival held over eight days was dedicated to cinema from 28 African and Middle East countries.
Davy Chou is a Cambodian-French filmmaker. He has written, directed and produced several films. Chou made his feature length debut with Diamond Island (2016) and made his follow-up with the film Return to Seoul (2022).
Philippe Faucon is a French film director, screenwriter and producer.
The Rooftops is a 2013 Algerian film directed by Merzak Allouache. The film premiered at the 2013 London Film Festival.
Nadia Kaci is an Algerian actress.
The 74th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 6 to 17 July 2021, after having been originally scheduled from 11 to 22 May 2021. American director Spike Lee was invited to be the head of the jury for the festival for a second time, after the COVID-19 pandemic in France scuttled plans to have him head the jury of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.
Lotfi Bouchouchi is an Algerian filmmaker and producer.