A colonial travel brochure disguised as cinema, accidentally becoming history's uncomfortable witness.
Two rich tourists, a photographer and a painter, meet during a walk in Kabylia. Their wanderings are an opportunity to highlight the many tourist and picturesque places on the Algerian coast. This film commissioned by the Defense Communication and Audiovisual Production Establishment (ECPAD), attempts to sell a tourist destination when Algeria was in flames with the outbreak of the Algerian national liberation war. Filmed with the colonial lens of the time, the natives are only one element of a picturesque setting, and the final kiss between a French woman and an Arab man is an attempt to demonstrate a pacified country. Despite everything, the film constitutes a precious archive for Béjaïa, which is the subject for the first time of a film which immortalizes a moment in its history, and to introduce the work of Tahar Hannache, actor, cinematographer and director, one of the pioneers of Algerian cinema.
Cinematography
Tahar Hannache's pioneering lens captures Béjaïa's beauty despite colonial constraints.
Director
Jean Francoux
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Tahar Hannache would become foundational to Algerian cinema post-independence; this commission accidentally preserved his early work.
The film was commissioned by ECPAD, the French military's propaganda wing, during the first year of the Algerian War — making every 'peaceful' frame an active distortion.
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