Fedayin, the fight of Georges Abdallah

Vichy in the Colonies

2023 · ★ 8

After the defeat of 1940, and faced with the unexpected collapse of French power, all eyes turned to a horizon of both hope and uncertainty: the colonies. France had suddenly become an empire without a metropolis, reduced to two-thirds of its former size. Pétain saw the colonies as a "consoling myth" after the defeat, while de Gaulle considered them essential strategic locations for the Resistance. The two clashed in a propaganda war.

The Pan-African Festival in Algiers

1969 · ★ 6

Festival panafricain d'Alger is a documentary by William Klein of the music and dance festival held 40 years ago in the streets and in venues all across Algiers. Klein follows the preparations, the rehearsals, the concerts… He blends images of interviews made to writers and advocates of the freedom movements with stock images, thus allowing him to touch on such matters as colonialism, neocolonialism, colonial exploitation, the struggles and battles of the revolutionary movements for Independence.

Mémoires du 8 mai 1945

No synopsis available.

Os Mortos Resistirão Para Sempre

2024

Cinepoem about the current Palestinian tragedy, with Brazilian films from 1922 and 1932 (the indigenous catastrophe), documentaries from 2023/2024, essays by Jean-Luc Godard, Hani Jawharieh and Mustafa Abu Ali, statements by Edgar Morin and Noam Chomsky, and a poem by Mahmud Darwich.

Be Water

2020 · ★ 6.8

In 1971, after being rejected by Hollywood, Bruce Lee returned to his parents’ homeland of Hong Kong to complete four iconic films. Charting his struggles between two worlds, this portrait explores questions of identity and representation through the use of rare archival footage, interviews with loved ones and Bruce’s own writings.

Sankofa

A short documentary that emerge at the center of round table debate, participating in it there's three students from the Superior School of Arts and Design, Caldas da Rainha - Portugal. This conversation go along with a video essay about Afrofuturism and Pop Culture. Also, during the debate, an interview with another student gives some real example of how afrofuturism can be applied when it comes to in taking control of the colonial narratives into a black person perspective.

Here and Elsewhere

1976 · ★ 6.7

Here and Elsewhere takes its name from the contrasting footage it shows of the fedayeen and of a French family watching television at home. Originally shot by the Dziga Vertov Group as a film on Palestinian freedom fighters, Godard later reworked the material alongside Anne-Marie Miéville.

Écoutez May Picqueray

1984 · ★ 10

"Well, I believe in anarchy! And I believe it will come true one day." That's what "May the Rebel," a union activist, anti-militarist, and anarchist, always ready to denounce oppression and defend victims, affirms at 85. Born in Brittany, she earned her living at age 10 delivering butter. In Paris, at 20, she became involved with the Anarchist Union. Sébastien Faure became her mentor. She used a grenade to trigger the Sacco-Vanzetti affair. A union delegate in Moscow in 1922, she sang "Hymn to Anarchy" before Trotsky. Children during the Spanish Civil War, Jews during the Second World War, conscientious objectors alongside Louis Lecoin during the Algerian War, and later, through her newspaper Le Réfractaire, the Larzac, Plogoff, and Creys-Malville protests—all these were battlegrounds for May Picqueray. To the very end, she remained true to her commitment to defending peace and individual liberties.

Jean-Jacques de Félice, The Passion For Justice

2018 · ★ 10

From the rights of minors before the juvenile court, young offenders from the neighborhoods of eastern Paris, or children of Algerian origin from the shantytowns of Nanterre, to the defense of colonized Kanaks and Polynesians; from the fight for conscientious objector status to the denunciation of torture and the death penalty, lawyer Jean-Jacques de Félice has been involved in every struggle. His pacifism knows no bounds: with organizations like Cimade, LDH, and the Louis-Lecoin Committee, he assists draft dodgers in numerous countries. These include Portuguese conscientious objectors refusing to fight in the wars in Angola and Mozambique, American deserters opposed to the Vietnam War, and Israeli objectors refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories. It is no surprise that, as early as 1971, he was one of the very first lawyers representing the farmers of the Larzac plateau.

No Other Land

2024 · ★ 8

This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.

Gerboise Bleue

2009 · ★ 10

"Gerboise bleue", the first French atomic test carried out on February 13, 1960 in the Algerian Sahara, is the starting point of France's nuclear power. These are powerful radioactive aerial shots carried out in areas belonging to the French army. Underground tests will follow, even after the independence of Algeria. From 1960 to 1978, 30,000 people were exposed in the Sahara. The French army was recognized recognized nine irradiations. No complaint against the army or the Atomic Energy Commission has resulted. Three requests for a commission of inquiry were rejected by the National Defense Commission. For the first time, the last survivors bear witness to their fight for the recognition of their illnesses, and revealed to themselves in what conditions the shootings took place. The director goes to the zero point of "Gerboise Bleue", forbidden access for 47 years by the Algerian authorities

Two Lives for Algeria and All the Wretched of the Earth

2025 · ★ 8

In 1994, at over seventy years old, Gilberte and William Sportisse, threatened by the FIS, arrived from Algeria. Of Jewish faith, he of Arabic mother tongue, they formed a fighting couple, started for the independence of Algeria, always with an unshakeable faith in humanity. They enjoy recounting the participation of Algerian Jews in the Second World War and the struggle for Algerian independence. They provide us with previously unpublished information on the public and clandestine struggles of the Algerian Communist Party before and after independence, and on the repression of activists who, like William and Gilberte Sportisse, were tortured and imprisoned after Colonel Boumédiène came to power. The film is an ode to understanding between people of different origins or cultures and a tribute to a couple whose youthful character and enthusiasm still astonish.