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Staurday 20th @4.00pm | Cork Opera House |
Born in Algiers, Merzak Allouache grew up during the Algerian struggle for independence. He studied filmmaking at Paris’ celebrated IDHEC. He has received much acclaim and accolades for his films dealing with Algerian life and that of the diaspora living in France. Omar Gatlato (1976), his first feature film, set in the neighbourhood of Bab El-Oued in Algiers, was such a success that it changed the course of Algerian cinema, winning the International Critics’ Prize at Cannes in 1994, as well as the Grand Prix at the Arab Film Festival in Paris. During a career that has spanned thirty years, Merzak Allouache’s films have examined the complex social and political history of Algeria and France, with intelligent, tangible characters and situations. He has just completed shooting on his latest film ‘Tamanrasset’ for Arte.
His output of ten features in under thirty years makes him the most prolific filmmaker to stem from the Maghreb - Roy Armes, African Filmmaking North and South of the Sahara (2005)
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| Corona Cork Film Festival is delighted to welcome Merzak Allouache to the festival to present his films, and to speak publicly about his work to Professor Roy Armes. |
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Bab El-Oued City
Merzak Allouache
1994 | 93mins | 35mm | Colour | Subtitled
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Bab El-Oued, a popular district of Algiers, in 1989, a few months after the riots. Boualem works at night in a bakery and steals the loudspeaker that was installed on his roof broadcasting the Imam’s word and preventing him from sleeping. From there, Boualem and his friends become a target for the rise of paranoia and violence
that has started to seep into their lovely Casbah. With humour and intelligence this film opens up the everyday world of Bab El-Oued at that time, showing us the people, the ordinariness and the new elements that began to pervade.
Bab El-Oued City is to date the most lucid depiction on film of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism
in Algeria and its perils. It’s essential viewing for anyone interested in getting insight into the people’s reaction to this broad political change. Variety
Mixing humour with serious social insights and making good use of popular music, Bab el Oued City paints a vivid picture of the inhabitants of a neighbourhood… Roy Armes, African Filmmaking.
International Critics Prize, Cannes Film Festival 1994
Grand Prix, Paris Bienniale of Arab Cinema 1994
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