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ALGIERS: The Pan-African Festival of Algiers 1969 (15*)

Project a Black Planet

,Cinema 1
A man sits smoking a cigarette on the floor of a bedroom, with four lit candles and several objects on a mat laid out in front of him.

A programme of films capturing Algiers before, during and after the Pan-African Festival of Algiers in 1969, told through the films archived, restored and created by Nabil Djedouani.

Of all the Pan-African festivals, the Pan-African Festival of Algiers is perhaps the best known and documented via cinema, thanks to William Klein’s eponymous film. This programme surveys Algiers before, during and after the festival, as well as through a foreign lens – from the perspective of the French colonial filmmaker and the Sub-Saharan migrant – spotlighting the longstanding and fraught encounters hosted by the city.  

The programme spans a series of vignettes commissioned by the Lumière brothers (among the earliest surviving forms of moving image from the continent), Algerian state newsreels depicting the festival’s significance, and finally Djedouani’s documentary Afric Hotel. Co-directed with Hassen Ferhani, the film ponders the everyday existence of a group of West African migrants in Algiers housed in the run-down Afric Hotel. 

Tagged with: Cinema Ambiguous Encounters Project a Black Planet Film Season

With a pre-recorded introduction by Nabil Djedouani.

Curated by Abiba Coulibaly.

This screening marks the UK premiere of Afric Hotel.

Book two or more films in the Project a Black Planet film programme at the same time and get 20% off.

Nabil Djedouani is a filmmaker, actor, and researcher. In 2012, he created the website “Archives Numériques du Cinéma Algérien” to make forgotten Algerian cinematic works accessible to everyone on his Facebook page and YouTube channel. He collects, restores, and shares these cinematic works. In 2019, he directed a documentary essay titled “Rock Against Police.” In 2022, he obtained a professional qualification certificate in digital image restoration from the Institut National de l’Audiovisuel.

Film Programme

Vues d'Alger, Alexandre Promio, France, 1896

Afric Hotel, Nabil Djedouani and Hassen Ferhani, Algeria, 2011

Festival Pan-Africain newsreel, 1969

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