Event
FidaïPost an Event »
UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)
February 4 - February 4, 2014Info
- http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu
- (510) 642-0808
Jia Zhang-ke’s Xstream Pictures served as coproducer of this elegiac portrait of a seemingly ordinary grandfather, who in reality was a freedom fighter during the Algerian War of Independence against France. Interspersing archival footage, reenactments, and interviews, director (and great-nephew of El Hadi) Damien Ounouri showcases how the past lives within the present: children play in their grandfather El Hadi’s yard, while El Hadi recalls the atrocities of the past, and his own brutal fight against colonialism. A documentary, contemporary companion to such fictional works as The Battle of Algiers, Fidaï showcases the scars and memories of a life spent in warfare, but also how to live when the war is over. “I’ve forgotten everything, and now I remember,” El Hadi sighs, a certain sorrow etched within his face, “but the day comes when one has to tell one’s story.” “A lovely, elegant an d stirring look at one man's memories of being a fighter for Algeria's liberation from French colonialism,” wrote Variety, “Fidaï marks a striking advance in Arabic documentary filmmaking.”
—Jason Sanders
Written by Linda Amiri, Ounouri. Photographed by Matthieu Laclau. (83 mins, In French and Arabic with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From Kafard Films)