La Bataille d'Alger, l'empreinte Backdrop Blur
La Bataille d'Alger, l'empreinte Poster

La Bataille d'Alger, l'empreinte

Cheikh Djemaï looks back on the genesis of Gillo Pontecorvo’s feature film, The Battle of Algiers (1965). Through archive images, extracts from the film and interviews with personalities, the filmmaker retraces the journey of a major work - from the events of the Algiers Casbah (1956-1957) to the presentation of the Lion of 'Or causing the anger of the French delegation in Venice - which left its mark as much in the history of cinema as in that of Algeria.

Top Cast

  • Gillo Pontecorvo

    Gillo Pontecorvo

    Self (archive footage)

  • Ali Marok

    Ali Marok

    Self

  • Brahim Hadjadj

    Brahim Hadjadj

    Ali La Pointe (archive footage)

  • Yacef Saâdi

    Yacef Saâdi

    Self (archive footage)

  • Mohamed Ben Kassen

    Mohamed Ben Kassen

    Petit Omar (archive footage)

  • Fouzia El Kader

    Fouzia El Kader

    Self (archive footage)

  • Noureddine Brahimi

    Noureddine Brahimi

    Self (archive footage)

  • Claudio Racca

    Claudio Racca

    Self

  • Fatiha Djoudi

    Fatiha Djoudi

    Self

Overview

Cheikh Djemaï looks back on the genesis of Gillo Pontecorvo’s feature film, The Battle of Algiers (1965). Through archive images, extracts from the film and interviews with personalities, the filmmaker retraces the journey of a major work - from the events of the Algiers Casbah (1956-1957) to the presentation of the Lion of 'Or causing the anger of the French delegation in Venice - which left its mark as much in the history of cinema as in that of Algeria.

Rating

10.0 / 10
1 Reviews
1 Popular

Recommendations

Night Will Fall

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".

Night Will Fall

7.6 2014
Visions of Light

Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.

Visions of Light

7.0 1992