China Is Still Far

On November 1, 1954, near Ghassira, a small village lost in the Aurès, a couple of French teachers and an Algerian boss were the first civilian victims of a seven-year war which would lead to the independence of Algeria. More than fifty years later, Malek Bensmaïl returns to this Chaoui village, which has become “the cradle of the Algerian revolution”, to film, throughout the seasons, its inhabitants, its school and its children.

The Big Game

This docu­men­tary traces the spring of 2004, the Abde­la­ziz Boute­flika re-elec­tion as President of the Alge­rian Repu­blic in the first round of elec­tions. Follo­wing the step between the time the former Prime Minis­ter Ali Benflis.

Checks & Balances

Accommodated since Algeria's Bloody Decade of the 1990’s in the "House of the Press", the journalists of the famous daily newspaper El Watan await the completion of their new offices, a symbol of their independence. My camera is embedded in their newsroom as they follow the events of this new Algerian spring... President Bouteflika has set his sights on a 4th term. Beyond what we call the Arab revolutions and other mediatized terms, I wanted this film to serve as a memorial to the women and men, young and less young, who battle daily to sa...

Algeria's Bloody Years

Documentary series in two parts: 1. A people without a voice (80'), 2. A land in mourning (78'). Part 1: A people without a voice: October 88, the Algerian Republic is faltering, the film goes back to the sources of this tragedy and explains how the face to face between the Islamists and those in power began. The interruption of the legislative elections of December 91, followed shortly after the assassination of President Boudiaf in June 92, plunged Algeria into chaos. Part 2: A land in mourning: the cycle of violence that leads to massacre...