Raï Story: From Cheikha Rimitti to Cheba Djenet

Dreamgirls

December 2006 •English

A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.

The Revolution Of El Harrachi

November 2014 •Arabic

The artistic journey of Dahmane El Harrachi, born in 1925 in Algiers, bears the mark of his experience. An attentive and vigilant observer of the environment of immigrant workers, Dahmane has always avoided falling into the ambient miserabilism. From the Algerian Chaâbi, he has kept certain melodic lines and a clear propensity for sayings drawn from the oral poetic tradition. El Harrachi uses simple language, understandable by all popular sectors of the Maghreb, which partly explains its wide success. In 1949, he went to France and it was in cafes, springboard places where people come to breathe the air of the country, that he performed regularly. Elegant, with his beautiful atmosphere, the “bluesman” of the suburbs seduces, upsets and stirs consciences. Discovered late by the new generation, the creator of Ya Rayah met a tragic end, on August 31, 1980, in a car accident, on the Algiers coast which he sublimated above all else.

Der Taylor Swift Effekt, Pop-Ikone und politische Hoffnungsträgerin

October 2024 •English

True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in the Last Century, when Dr Frantz Fanon Was Head of the Fifth Ward between 1953 and 1956

July 2025 •Arabic

1953, colonized Algeria. Fanon, a young black psychiatrist is appointed head doctor at the Blida-Joinville Hospital. He was putting his theories of ‘Institutional Psychotherapy’ into practice in opposition to the racist theories of the Algies School of Psychiatry, while a war broke out in his own wards.

Les Mains Libres

August 1965 •French

In 1964, Algeria, just two years after the end of the war of independence, found itself catapulted into new contradictions, a still rural territory which responded to the modernity brought by the revolution. Filmed during the winter of 1964-1965 by the young director Ennio Lorenzini, it is the first international Algerian production which paints a rare portrait in color of a multifaceted nation, far from the simplistic vision created by the press and the French army. Produced by Casbah Film, Les Mains Libres (initially titled Tronc De Figuier) bears witness to the stigmata of colonization and the future of free Algeria throughout the Algerian territory and reveals the richness of its landscapes and the diversity of its traditions . The documentary, using the aesthetics of militant cinema of the time, is made up of four scenes: Sea and Desert, The Struggle, The Earth, Freedom.

Barbra Streisand: Becoming an Icon 1942–1984

April 2017 •French

Barbra Streisand grew up in working class Brooklyn, dreaming of escape from her tough childhood. A stellar student, she resisted the pressure to go to college as her sights were firmly set on Broadway. She was determined to become an actress and landed her first role aged 16, but it was two years later, when she started to sing, that her career took off. Subverting stereotypes and breaking glass ceilings, this programme looks at her rise to stardom and the remarkable achievements of her early career.

Mylène Farmer : Les Clips L'Intégrale (1999-2020)

June 2021 •French

Vitaa, je m’appelle Charlotte

November 2024 •French

The Unexpected Party

January 1953 •Arabic

This musical comedy produced in 1953 for the General Government of Algeria, features the comic trio composed of Rouiched, Mohamed Touri and Sid Ali Fernandel, accompanied by the orchestra of the master of the Algiers Chaâbi El Hadj M'hamed El Anka, the singer Fadhéla Dziria, Mustapha Skandrani on the piano. Some scenes were filmed at the Summer Palace (the current Palace of the Algerian Presidency, called the People's Palace). André Zwobada, the director, will play an important role after the independence of Algeria in 1962, in the production and preservation of the first Algerian newsreels.

Algeria, Year Zero

October 1965 •French

Documentary on the beginnings of Algerian independence filmed during the summer of 1962 in Algiers. The film was banned in France and Algeria but won the Grand Prize at the Leipzig International Film Festival in 1965. Out of friendship, the production company Images de France sent an operator, Bruno Muel, who later declared: "For those who were called to Algeria (for me, 1956-58), participating in a film on independence was a victory over horror, lies and absurdity. It was also the beginning of my commitment to the cinema."

Lady Gaga - Encore

May 2020 •English

Gaga has travelled through time with her ever changing sound, reinventing herself for every album, award ceremony and red carpet. With a strong fan base behind her, she continues to reign as one of the biggest pop stars of the industry.

Manifesto of the 121

January 2011 •French

On September 5, 1960, the trial of about twenty French activists from the "Jeanson Network" began, supporters in the metropolis of the action of the Algerian FLN independence activists. But after a few days, the situation was reversed and the trial transformed into a political arena, it was the government, the army, their policy, it was the entire Algerian war whose trial began. Accused, witnesses, lawyers, overflowing a stunned court, transformed the courtroom into a tribune of the opposition. The trial coincided with the publication of the "Manifesto of the 121" on the right to insubordination, signed among others by Jean Paul Sartre, Arthur Adamov, Simone de Beauvoir, André Breton, Marguerite Duras, Pierre Boulez, René Dumont, François Chatelet…

Oversand

January 1981 •French

Oversand is one of the first films about free climbing, the third film in a series of three with "Overdon" and "Over-Ice". Directed by Jean-Paul Janssen, the film was shot in 35mm in Algeria, in the Sahara Desert, in the Tamanrasset region, on the walls of the majestic peaks of the Atakor massif, central sub-region of Hoggar, mountainous heart of Hoggar, a volcanic plateau of almost circular shape, whose average altitude is 2000 meters, and which culminates at Mount Tahat (2918m), the highest point in Algeria. The Atakor is distinguished by its spectacular volcanic peaks, its needles, and its rugged landscapes, resulting from the erosion of ancient volcanic chimneys, which make it the most emblematic summits of the Hoggar, such as the Assekrem, the Ilamane, or the Tizouyag, where climbers Patrick Edlinger, Patrick Bérhault, Bernard Gorgeon, Hugues Jaillet, Jacques Perrier, Stéphane Troussier and Odette Schoënleb evolve under the watchful eye of the Tuareg caravans.

Taylor Swift, la première puissance américaine

November 2024 •French

CHoosing at Twenty

August 2017 •French

Between 1954-1962, one hundred to three hundred young French people refused to participate in the Algerian war. These rebels, soldiers or conscripts were non-violent or anti-colonialists. Some took refuge in Switzerland where Swiss citizens came to their aid, while in France they were condemned as traitors to the country. In 1962, a few months after Independence, Villi Hermann went to a region devastated by war near the Algerian-Moroccan border, to help rebuild a school. In 2016 he returned to Algeria and reunited with his former students. He also met French refractories, now living in France or Switzerland.

Tina Turner: Private Dancer Tour

June 1985 •English

The Private Dancer Tour was the fifth concert tour by singer Tina Turner. In support of her fifth studio album, Private Dancer (1984), the tour helped to establish Turner as a major solo artist of the 1980s and a dynamic solo performer, after initially starting out singing with ex-husband Ike Turner's band. The tour is often considered one of the best comebacks in music history. The 180-date, eleven-month world tour traveled across Europe, North America and Australasia. Notably, Turner played a show in Budapest, Hungary, the only show of the tour behind the Iron Curtain. The concerts received many accolades, including the "Most Creative Tour Package" and "Comeback Tour Of The Year" awards from Pollstar. The two March 1985 shows at Birmingham, England's NEC Arena were filmed and released as Tina Live: Private Dancer Tour. It featured special guests Bryan Adams and David Bowie. In 2025 a 4K upgraded blu ray of the concert came out, including bonus video clips.

How Much I Love You

May 1985 •Arabic

Beginning with a promotional reel encouraging farming investments in Algeria and ending with the secret 1950s nuclear tests that France conducted using Algerian prisoners, How Much I Love You appropriates archival footage produced by the French colonial powers in Algeria. Meddour’s approach is disarmingly simple and yet awe-inspiring—his caustic undoing of colonial discourse is underscored by a liberating release of humor.

Algeria 1954, The Revolt Of A Colonized

January 1974 •French

This film presents the point of view of an Arab from Algeria who rebels against colonization. He analyzes the process of awareness, the transition to revolt, to armed insurrection. Algeria and the settlers are seen through this lens and not the way a Frenchman saw the country. He gives voice to the Arabs at a time when this word was not heard: sometimes it was not even produced, at least publicly. The testimonies are based on real propositions, most of them were made to the author during his stay in Algeria from 1948 to 1956, then in 1958 and 1959. The comments are borrowed from the texts of Arab theorists of the revolution Algerian. This film thus completely evacuates the point of view of those who are not insurgents; he does not give the opinion of the colonists. It is the direct expression of what was the revolt of a colonized person: it thus constitutes the very type of the historical document.

Saha Dahmane

January 1980 •Arabic

Film about Dahmane El Harrachi, musician, singer and composer of the famous song "Ya Rayah", a cult song covered by Rachid Taha, which will enjoy international success. Virtuoso of the banjo, the work of Dahmane El Harrachi did not initially respond to the canons of the purists of Algiers Chaâbi song. However, he will end up establishing himself alongside great masters of the genre, El Hadj M'hamed El Anka, Boudjemaâ El Ankis, El Hachemi Guerouabi, Amar Ezzahi... He plays his own role in this film shot with his musician friends, just before his tragic death in 1980 in a car accident on the Corniche of Algiers.

El Ouafi Boughera, The marathon runner of history

November 2018 •

On August 5, 1928, after 2 hours and 32 minutes of racing, the 71st rooster wearing the bib entered the Olympic stadium in Amsterdam. Ahmed El Ouafi Bouguéra wins the gold medal and becomes the first Olympic champion from the African continent. He achieved his feat under the tricolor flag. The start of his real marathon is underway. The history of sport extends to the history of Algeria and France. This documentary retraces the different stages of the life of this great champion, not only the history of sport but also the great story. Archival photographs and interviews mingle with the painted paintings. The series thus once again gives voice to this forgotten hero, one of the great heroes of immigration who defended France for more than a century.