Tale of an Encounter
★ 6.3 · 1985 · 77m · Drama
Two deaf and dumb children. She is the daughter of an American Oil engineer. He is the son of an Algerian farmer. They meet and manage to communicate, transcending all the cultural barriers that separate them.
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Le Passager du Tassili
1987
Omar, a young Franco-Algerian from La Garenne-Colombes, decided to spend his vacation in the country of his ancestors, Algeria. On his return, he boards the ferry “Le Tassili” and during the crossing, he meets people who share his doubles, in a good mood that does not hide their heartbreaks.
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Paulo and His Brother
1997 · ★ 4
Paulo and his brother, both deaf, lie on their childhood bed and remember: dance of signs, dance of bodies, meaningful language.
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Hiziya
1977 · ★ 10
It was from the popular song-poem by Mohamed Ben Guittoun that director Mohamed Hazourli (of the Constantine regional station of RTA) wrote the screenplay. Hiziya Bent Ahmeb Bey, 23 years old, lived in southeastern Algeria, in a village called Sidi Khaled. The daughter of a powerful notable of the Dhouaouda tribe, who regularly migrated through the desert, Hiziya was exceptionally beautiful, to the point that other girls were jealous and envious of her, and men succumbed to her charm. But the young woman's heart belonged to Saïd, an orphan taken in as a child by his uncle. They met in secret and married despite family hostility. A month after their wedding, Hiziya died during the transhumance in the desert. The death of his beloved plunged Saïd into deep grief, to the point that he abandoned his possessions and family to wander the desert.
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The Desert Ark
1998 · ★ 6.9
The Desert Ark (L'Arche du Desert), a variation on Romeo and Juliet set in the Algerian desert. A young couple must face inevitable conflict when their rival families discover their secret love. Taking refuge in a cave, they listen to the sounds of a senseless campaign of violence and murder, which is the culmination of the extremism that has long divided their two communities. Nominated for the Golden Leopard at the 1997 Locarno Film Festival.
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So Young a Peace
1965 · ★ 8.5
The first fictional feature film produced in Algeria after independence, this film addresses one of the most worrying problems: that of childhood. Children, freedom regained, do not yet know how to play “at peace”, they naturally play “at war”.
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Harkis
2008 · ★ 7.1
1972, in the south of France, deep in the forest, a family with meager luggage discovers the new camp where they will live. Despite the camp leader's overt paternalism, the Harkis lead a difficult life without real freedom. A life of poverty and guardianship that Leila, the Benamars' eldest daughter, rejects. She is at the age of rebellion, and also of her first love. For her, her father, Saïd, scarred by war and exile, accustomed to giving in, owes nothing to the French who enlisted him in the French army, then failed to protect them in Algeria. Thanks to her, with the help of a peasant couple, he will raise his head and the Benamars will leave the camp for a nearby farm.
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Khamoshi: The Musical
1996 · ★ 6.8
The daughter of deaf-mute parents seeks their understanding when she discovers a love for music.
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Youssef: The Legend of the Seventh Sleeper
1994 · ★ 9
In Algeria, Youcef escapes from a psychiatric asylum located at the edge of the desert. He was a fighter and, years later, he still believes himself to be a prisoner of the French army. He rejoins what he thinks is his resistance group. He finds the bones of his comrades, buries them, and promises himself that he will visit their families, one after the other, to honor their memory. He goes underground and makes quick forays into the villages. He is struck by what he sees there. Young people queuing for bread, former FLN leaders living in the villas of the colonists, and farm workers mistreated by their Algerian foremen. As for the women, although they played a decisive role in the liberation of the country, they are now cloistered or forced to go out in public wearing masks. When he is discovered by the authorities, Youcef cannot believe that thirty years have passed. This nuisance must be eliminated...
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The Man Who Was Looking at the Windows
1985 · ★ 9.5
A police office in Algiers sometime after independence. Mr Rachid, father, around fifty years old, former colonial official transferred to the cinema annex library. Mr. Rachid, disappointed and exasperated by his sad life, faced with an inspector who questions him, tries to explain: why did he kill his former department head after a long night of wandering?
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Harvest of Steel
1983 · ★ 9.5
Years after Algeria gained independence, war continues to claim lives in Soulima, a border village surrounded by mines, whose victims are too numerous to count. Despite all these deaths, the inhabitants remain rooted in their ancestral land. Among them stands out the noble figure of Zohra, who seems to be the soul of the village...
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Dead the Long Night
1979 · ★ 10
Composed of archive images narrated by the writer, anthropologist and linguist Mouloud Mammeri, the film offers a reflection on the anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist struggle movements of the 1970s around the world.
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The Uprooted
1977 · ★ 10
In 1880, in colonized Algeria, it was decided that the Algerian peasants of the Ouarsenis mountains would see their lands dispossessed in favor of the French colonists. Two methods were used to achieve this, either by sheer force or by a ploy forcing the fellahs to pay fines too high to be paid. The uprooted must then leave for the cities, swelling the mass of proletarians in the slums ...
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