Brutalist concrete dreams built on colonial sand — who gets to call it home?
In this documentary, Marie-Claire Rubinstein reveals to us, through the testimonies of the inhabitants who live there, the architectural achievements of the French urban planner Fernand Pouillon in Algiers. In particular the vast complexes of hundreds of social housing units, including the most famous Diar E Saâd (1953), Diar El Mahçoul (1954) and Climat de France (1957). The historical context, during the war of independence is related by the historian Benjamin Stora and Nadir Boumaza. This documentary also evokes the personality of Fernand Pouillon in a post-colonial context.
Direction
Rubinstein lets residents speak, not just experts.
Editing
Seamless weave of archival grandeur and present-day wear.
Production
Stora's historical context hits like a gut punch.
Director
Marie-Claire Rubinstein
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pouillon's Diar El Mahçoul was internationally celebrated as modernist utopia while Algerians were being forcibly displaced to build it — the film captures this tension without flattening it.
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