A stolen archive, a revolution, and the cinema that kept a continent's stories alive.
Jacqueline Gozlan - who left Algeria with her parents in 1961 - nostalgically retraces the history of the Algiers Cinematheque, inseparable from that of the country's Independence, through film extracts and numerous testimonies; notably that of one of its creators, Jean-Michel Arnold, but also of filmmakers such as Merzak Allouache and critics such as Jean Douchet. A place of life for Algerians, the Cinémathèque was the hub of African cinemas. Created in 1965 by Ahmed Hocine, Mahieddine Moussaoui and Jean-Michel Arnold, the Cinémathèque benefited from the excitement of Independence. The Cinematheque becomes a meeting place for Algiers society, future filmmakers find their best school there. In 1969, the Algiers Pan-African Festival brought together all African filmmakers, and from 1970, Boudjemâa Kareche developed a collection of Arab and African films.
Direction
Gozland weaves personal exile into collective cinematic history.
Editing
Film extracts and testimony become one breathing archive.
Director
Jacqueline Gozland
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 1969 Pan-African Festival was revolutionary — filmmakers from 31 African nations screening work banned in their own countries.
Jean-Michel Arnold, a Frenchman who stayed after independence, embodied the complex loyalties of postcolonial cultural work.
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