Cinema of Algeria
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2013) |
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (December 2011) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Cinema of Algeria | |
---|---|
No. of screens | 19 (2009)[1] |
• Per capita | 0.1 per 100,000 (2009)[1] |
Number of admissions (2006)[2] | |
Total | 700,000 |
Gross box office (2007)[2] | |
Total | $100,000 |
Cinema of Algeria refers to the film industry based in the north African country of Algeria.
The colonial era
During the era of French colonization, movies were predominantly a propaganda tool for the French colonial state.[3] Although filmed in Algeria and viewed by the local population, the vast majority of "Algerian" cinema in this era was created by Europeans.
The colonial propaganda films themselves generally depicted a stereotypically image of pastoral life in the colony, often focusing on an aspect of local culture that the administration sought to change,[citation needed] such as polygamy. One example of such a film is Albert Durec's 1928 Le Désir.
Popular French cinema filmed or set in Algeria often echoed many of the tropes common in administration-funded films. For example,
European domination of the means of cinematic production ended in the early days of the Algerian War, when several Algerian nationalists from the
The emergence of Algerian cinema in the 1960s and 1970s
Algeria became an independent nation in 1962, a topic which garnered heavy attention amongst Algerian movie productions of the 1960s and 1970s.
Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina's canonical 1967 film The Winds of the Aures depicts a rural farming family whose lives are destroyed by colonialism and war. The plot depicts the tragic plight of a mother who leaves her home in the Aurès mountains of eastern Algeria to search desperately for her son, a nationalist who has followed in his father's footsteps but been captured by the French army. Symbolically, the film uses the family to represent the fate of the nation: impoverished, exploited, but struggling to be free.[6] The film won an award at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival for Best First Work.[7]
Outside of Algeria, one of the most famous films of this era is The Battle of Algiers (1966), an Algerian-Italian co-production that obtained three Oscar nominations.
Other examples of Algerian cinema from this era include
Along with decolonization and the Algerian War, the plight of urban youth is another common theme. One example of this theme is Merzak Allouache's Omar Gatlato.
Several comedy stars also emerged, including the very popular Rouiched, star of Hassan Terro or Hassan Taxi. In addition, Hadj Abderrahmane - better known under the pseudonym of the Inspector Tahar - starred in the 1973 comedy The Holiday of The Inspector Tahar directed by Musa Haddad. The most famous comedy of this period is Carnaval fi dechra directed by Mohamed Oukassi, and starting Athmane Ariouet.
Contemporary cinema, 1980 to the present
Algerian cinema slumped in the mid-1980s, and major productions became rare. Some[citation needed] attribute this fact to the state's unwillingness to subsidize Algerian film. There were a few success, including Mohamed Oukassi's 1994 comedy Carnival fi Dachra, filmed in Maghrebi Arabic and following the story of a man who runs for mayor of his village (or "dachra") only to be seduced by power and seek to become the president of Algeria. Director Merzak Allouache's Athmane Aliouet and "Salut Cousin!" (1996) are two other examples of Algerian comedies produced in this era.
Some [citation needed] characterize contemporary Algerian cinema to be in a rebuilding phase. The recent trend has been an increase of Francophone cinema, as opposed to films in Algerian Arabic. Some [citation needed] attribute this to the Francophone market encouraged by increased immigration to France in the 1990s. For example, Franco-Algerian productions such as Rachid Bouchareb's Outside the Law have met with great success (and controversy).
A full statistical report on the cinema industry in Algeria, edited by Euromed Audiovisual and the European Audiovisual Observatory can be found on the Observatory's website here [8]
See also
- Arab cinema
- Cinema of the world
- Culture of Algeria
- List of Algerian films
- Centre Algerien de la Cinematographie
References
- ^ a b "Table 8: Cinema Infrastructure - Capacity". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ a b "Table 11: Exhibition - Admissions & Gross Box Office (GBO)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ISBN 9781571817013.
- ^ Abel, Richard (1984). French Cinema: The First Wave, 1915-1929. Princeton University Press.
- ^ Slavin, David Henry (2001). Colonial Cinema and Imperial France, 1919–1939: White Blind Spots, Male Fantasies, Settler Myths. JHU Press. p. 35.
- ^ Spaas, Lieve (2001). Francophone Film: A Struggle for Identity. Manchester University Press. pp. 135–6.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Winds of the Aures". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
- ^ Report on the audiovisual and film sector in Algeria by Euromed Audiovisual and the European Audiovisual Observatory
Further reading
- Guy Austin, Algerian National Cinema, Manchester University Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-7190-7993-1