Malek Bensmaïl

The Battle of Algiers, a Film Within History

Malek Bensmaïl

The Battle of Algiers is one of the most critically celebrated films of all time. Made in 1966 it documented Algeria's war for independence. Returning to the roots of the production and the personalities involved, this documentary explores what made The Battle of Algiers so profound and also some of the controversies.

La Chine est Encore Loin

Malek Bensmaïl

On November 1, 1954, near Ghassira, a small village lost in the Aurès, a couple of French teachers and an Algerian kingpin were the first civilian victims of a seven-year war that would lead to the independence of Algeria. More than fifty years later, Malek Bensmaïl returns to this chaoui village, which has become "the cradle of the Algerian revolution", to film, over the seasons, its inhabitants, its school and its children.

Contre-Pouvoirs

Malek Bensmaïl

Accommodated since Algeria's Bloody Decade of the 1990’s in the "House of the Press", the journalists of the famous daily newspaper El Watan await the completion of their new offices, a symbol of their independence. My camera is embedded in their newsroom as they follow the events of this new Algerian spring... President Bouteflika has set his sights on a 4th term. Beyond what we call the Arab revolutions and other mediatized terms, I wanted this film to serve as a memorial to the women and men, young and less young, who battle daily to safeguard the freedom of information in a politically and socially fossilized country.

Algérie(s)

Malek Bensmaïl

Algérie(s) chronicles the country's struggle for peace, stability and democracy since independence from France. The documentary combines recent and archival interviews, newsreel footage, and recently filmed footage from Algeria to trace the origins of the violence that has left as many as 200,000 dead since 1988. Algérie(s) begins with a brief historical survey of events in Algeria since independence in 1962, and moves on to focus on the democratization process set in motion after the October 1988 riots, the success of Islamist groups in elections, the subsequent cancellation of these elections by the military, and the country's descent into violence, up to the present day. The film provides an excellent overview of recent events and asks tough questions about their causes, and humanizes a conflict that was all too often reported deep inside the newspaper with little more than "score cards" of the numbers killed.

Dêmokratia

Malek Bensmaïl

Louis Beyler, Keen de Kermadec

Face to the firing squad a dictator is awaiting death. As the soldiers shoulder their rifles, the man remembers. He recalls with wicked jubilation his devouring ambition, his complete absence of scruples, his brutal lack of humanity, his taste for manipulation, the cowardice of his entourage, his ambiguous relationships with a woman named Dêmokratia.

العطل رغم كل شيء

Malek Bensmaïl

Immigrants in the Paris area since 1964, Kader and his family decide to spend their summer vacation in his native village, not far from Algiers. During holiday, the director captures little family stories that portray the franco-algerian relation and the reality of Algeria in these previous years.

DeciBled

Malek Bensmaïl

Amazigh Kateb, Djamel Benyelles

A journey through Algerian music, past and present, alongside a political look at Algerian society today. This documentary shows how music and musicians representing Afro-Maghrebian new tendancies, contributes to the blending and the fusion of Maghrebian and African cultures, as well as of the European and Western one. It tells about exile, about artist's feelings, about today Algeria. It shows how Maghrebian living in France express their musical culture, their roots, their traditions, mixing them up with the other cultures they meets.

Ulysse, le brûleur de frontières et la mer blanche du milieu

Malek Bensmaïl

Territoire(s)

Malek Bensmaïl

Based on Alge­rian proverbs and sayings, Terri­to­rie(s) reviews Alge­rian history in this century. The french colo­ni­sa­tion, the paci­fi­ca­tion of 1957 and the ulti­mate inde­pen­dence in 1962. The poli­ti­cal leaders are consi­de­red in cleverly edited sequences: Boudiaf, Ben Bella, Colo­nel Boume­dienne and figures from the Isla­mic move­ment like Ali Belhadj and Fara­khan. The french and Alge­rian intel­le­gen­tias are also inclu­ded in this kalei­do­sco­pic image of a coun­try that thanks to its event­ful colo­nial past, still has diffi­cul­ties deter­mi­ning its own iden­tity more than thirty years after its inde­pen­dence. Barba­rism is all its forms, inclu­ding the mili­tary forms it can assume with follo­wers of the FIS, is set against the domes­tic warning of those who plead for keeping eyes open, and keeping society open.