Freedom Filmmakers: Pioneers in the Information Battle

Bedjaoui, Ahmed

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-37994-0_3

Ahmed Bedjaoui⁴

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Arab Cinema ((PASTARCI))

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Abstract

When the Congress of the Soummam in Kabylia was held in August 1956, the questions of mass communication started to concern acutely all the leaders of the Revolution, politicians, and military alike. At the end of this congress, a platform was adopted. This declaration was followed by a series of actions being launched to arouse awareness abroad, essentially in the NATO countries allied to France. A number of filmmakers from France and other countries joined the Liberation Front in Tunis.

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Notes

1.
Homi K. Bhabha , “The Commitment to Theory,” in Questions of Third Cinema, in The Location of Culture (London-New York, Routledge, 1994).
2.
Saïd Mehdaoui , Les Cinéastes de la Liberté, full-length documentary, 70 minutes, ENTV (December 2009).
3.
At the time and long after 1962, official terminology used the words “information and propaganda.” We shall sometimes use the word “communication” for a better comprehension of the concepts.
4.
Directives issued by the Congress of the Soummam, published in an issue of the clandestine El Moudjahid (No. 4), Algiers, November 1956. See the communication by Marie Chominot , Symposium L’introduction du visuel dans la guerre de libération nationale. L’image et la révolution, Musée public national d’art moderne et contemporain (MAMA) (Algiers, May 15 and 16, 2013).
5.
Ibid.
6.
Alice Cherki , Frantz Fanon, Portrait, Paris, Seuil (2000). See also David Macey , Frantz Fanon: A Biography (New York, Picador Press, 2000).
7.
Saïd Mehdaoui , Cinéastes de la Liberté (documentary), produced by Algerian Public TV, 2010.
8.
Ferhat Abbas , L’Indépendance confisquée, ed. Flammarion (Paris, 1984), 188–89.
9.
Robert Barrat , “Un journaliste français chez les hors-la-loi algériens,” France Observateur (Sept. 15,1955), reported in La Guerre d’Algérie, under the leadership of Henri Alleg , ed. Temps Actuels, vol. II, 106.
10.
The first issue appeared on October 22, 1955. However, the historian Marie Chominot mentions the date November 22, 1955.
11.
One of the editors of Résistance Algérienne (A and B edition).
12.
Letter from Hocine Bouzaher to Abdelkrim Badjadja , published in Le Quotidien d’Algérie (August 23, 2010), on the occasion of an exchange about the book Histoire intérieure du FLN (1954–1962) by Gilbert Meynier .
13.
Marie Chominot , La Révolution par l’image. Les services d’information du FLN pendant la guerre d’indépendance algérienne.
14.
Les Cinéastes de la Liberté.
15.
Monde.fr (March 19, 2012).
16.
Marie Chominot , ibid.
17.
Izza Bouzekri was Abane Ramdane’s wife.
18.
El Moudjahid, un journal de combat (1956–1962) ed. ANEP, El Moudjahid, 12 and 13.
19.
Symposium: L’Introduction du visuel dans la guerre de Libération nationale. L’Image et la Révolution, MAMA, Algiers, May 15–16, 2013, reported by APS on May 15, 2013.
20.
Marie Chominot , ibid.
21.
Source: “Résistance, liberté et professionnalisme,” El Moudjahid (May 4, 2013).
22.
Dalila Aït-el-Djoudi, Acts of the symposium in Montpellier, May 5–6, 2000, ed. Complexe (2001), 139.
23.
Abdelbaki Sellai, Abdelhafid Boussouf, la légende des renseignements algériens pendant la guerre, fiction documentary, 55 minutes (2011).
24.
According to the conference given by Lamine Bechichi , MAMA symposium, L’Image et la Révolution, Algiers May 15–16, 2013. For more detail about “La Voix de l’Algérie,” see the excellent work by Abdelkader Nour , Sawt el Djezair, ed. Houma (Algiers, 2008).
25.
Pierre Chaulet , in Cinéastes de la Liberté, by Saïd Mehdaoui .
26.
The names of the filmmaker and his brother, Abdelkader, are sometimes spelled with “C” for Chanderli or “T” for Tchanderli. To make reading easier, the first version, without the “T,” has been chosen.
27.
Letter from Djamel Chanderli (or Tchanderli) to Boudjemaa Karèche , published in No. 22, L’Hebdo Libéré (week of November 21–27, 1990), 31.
28.
Katiba: commando subdivision.
29.
General Instructions for Wilaya IV, August 20, 1960, cited by Marie Chominot .
30.
L’Hebdo Libéré, “Lettre de Chanderli,” ibid.
31.
O. Hind , “Hommage au cinéaste Djamel-Eddine Chanderli,” L’Expression (November 14, 2010).
32.
El Djeich, newspaper of the People’s National Army.
33.
From Saïd Mehdaoui’s Cinéastes de la Liberté.
34.
For Marie Chominot , the reporter was British and from the BBC.
35.
Letter from Djamel Tchanderli (or Chanderli), L’Hebdo Libéré, ibid.
36.
Marie Chominot , ibid.
37.
Tangui Perron , “René Vautier , rouge breton,” http://www.peripherie.asso.fr/rene-vautier./rene-vautier-rouge-breton.
38.
Raphaël Pillosio , Algérie, d’autres regards [Algeria, another perspective], film (2004).
39.
Raphaël Pillosio , ibid.
40.
La Guerre d’Algérie, directed by Henri Alleg , Temps Actuels, vol. 3 (Paris, 1981), 572.
41.
Ibid., 571.
42.
The “Battle of Algiers ” started in February 1957, lasting until September/October of the same year. René Vautier claims that this contact with Abane Ramdane took place after the “Battle of Algiers ,” which would place it after September 1957, the date that Abane arrived in Tunis.
43.
Cahiers du cinéma, Supplément, “Où va le cinéma algérien?” (February–March 2003).
44.
“El Moudhjahid, un journal de combat (1956–1962),” El Moudjahid, ed. Anep (2011).
45.
Pierre Chaulet , Claudine’s husband, was arrested the same morning and Claudine courageously took his place. In Pierre et Claudine Chaulet, Le choix de l’Algérie, deux voix, une mémoire, ed. Barzakh (Algiers), 178.
46.
Belaïd Abane , L’Algérie en guerre, Abane Ramdane et les fusils de la liberté, ed. Ministry of Culture, 447.
47.
Youcef Benkhedda, “La traversée du maquis mars-avril-mai 1957,” Benkhedda Foundation, http://www.benkhedda.org/index.php.
48.
Serge Michel, un libertaire dans la décolonisation, by Marie-Joëlle Rupp , ed. Apic, 54.
49.
L’Introduction du visuel dans la guerre de Libération nationale. L’image et la Révolution, Symposium of May 15–16, 2013 at the MAMA.
50.
Benkhedda Foundation.
51.
The Morice line was already built. It had become difficult to cross it.
52.
Raphaël Pillosio , Algérie, d’autres regards (2004).
53.
Alistair Horne , A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962. First published by Macmillan in 1977; republished by Peregrine Books (1979), 250. Many journalists covered this event.
54.
Herb Greer , A Scattering of Dust, Hutchinson & Co., London, first published by Macmillan in 1962. Cf. chapter “Algeria-France, a Long War of Images.”
55.
In Nasredine Guenifi , Le Maquisard à la camera [The Maquisard Cameraman], a one-hour-long film (Paris, September 2000).
56.
In Nasredine Guenifi , Le Maquisard à la caméra [The Maquisard Cameraman], ibid.
57.
Juliette Cerf , interview with René Vautier , Cahiers du cinéma, 2003, Supplément, ibid.
58.
Remarks obtained in Paris on January 8, 2003 by Charlotte Garson , in Les Cahiers du cinéma, Supplément (February–March 2003), ibid.
59.
In Saïd Mehdaoui , Cinéastes de la Liberté. Algerian Public TV, 2010.
60.
René Vautier , Interview given to Liberation newspaper (July 10, 2001).
61.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/spip.php?artocme216.
62.
Asaru cinéma, No. 4 (2007), reported by O. Hind .
63.
Interview by Wahiba Labrèche , Liberté, edition of June 21, 2005.
64.
Interview recorded during the Days of the Cinema in Bedjaïa (2005).
65.
Cahiers du cinéma, op. Ibid.
66.
He probably meant Ahmed rather than his brother, Ali Boumendjel , thrown out of a window by the paras of Aussaresses in Algiers in 1957.
67.
With a film by Serge Michel about Bourguiba.
68.
Interview with Juliette Cert, Les Cahiers du cinéma, ibid.
69.
As it appears in the film by Raphaël Pillosio , Algérie, d’autres regards, the order of mission for Pierre Clément to go to Ghardimaou where Colonel Aouachria was based was signed on September 9, 1958, and not in August, as has sometimes been indicated.
70.
Raphaël Pillosio , Algérie, d’autres regards (2004).
71.
Interview with Juliette Cerf , ibid.
72.
Serge Michel founded Alger info international with Algerians exiled in France. It was run by Rabah Mahiout and Belkacem Sobhi. Serge Michel was an adviser and had a column in it called “SOS labès.” The journal ceased to exist after six months of activity.
73.
Information obtained by his daughter, Marie-Joëlle Rupp , 55, ibid.
74.
Raphaël Pillosio , Algérie, d’autres regards.
75.
Jacques Charby , Les Porteurs d’espoir. Les réseaux de soutien au FLN pendant la guerre d’Algérie: les acteurs parlent, ed. Chihab (Algiers, 2004), ed. La Découverte (Paris, 2004), 158–60.
76.
Raphaël Pillosio , Algérie, d’autres regards.
77.
The article in question is by Florent Guézengar , Exploding, No. 7 (October 2001).
78.
Jacques Charby , Les Porteurs d’espoir, ibid., 162.
79.
Raphaël Pillosio , Algérie, d’autres regards.
80.
Olivier Hadouchi , symposium, La Distribution de pain (Réfugiés algériens, 1957–2011): a little-known documentary by Cécile Decugis about Algerian refugees in Tunisia, MAMA, Algiers (May 15–16, 2013).
81.
Zdravko Pecar , Algérie, témoignage d’un reporter yougoslave sur la guerre d’Algérie, ed. ANEP (Algiers, 1987).
82.
In Saïd Mehdaoui , Cinéastes de la Liberté. Algerian Public TV, 2010.
83.
Stevan Labudovic , iz monografije Filmskih novosti.
84.
In Saïd Mehdaoui , Les Cinéastes de la Liberté.
85.
Cahiers du cinéma, ibid., 67.
86.
Letter from François Gèze of January 9, 2006, written after the death of Jacques Charby .
87.
Jacques Charby , Les Porteurs d’espoir, ibid.
88.
In Saïd Mehdaoui , Cinéastes de la Liberté, ibid.
89.
Interview with the author (under the pen name of Reda Koussim ), with Stevan Labudoviuc, El Moudjahid (November 1984).
90.
Pierre and Claudine Chaulet , Le Choix de l’Algérie, ibid., 214.
91.
Sergio Spina , in 1971, filmed an Algerian and Italian coproduction, L’Âne d’or, by the Algerian writer in Antiquity, Apuleius of Madaura.
92.
Pierre and Claudine Chaulet , Le Choix de l’Algérie, ibid.
93.
Ibid., 215.
94.
It would have been Peter Throckmorton and Herb Greer , both freelance image reporters, and the sequences were first shown by the American TV channel, NBC. Cf. chapter “Algeria-France, A Long War of Images.”
95.
Remarks made on January 8, 2003, in Paris to Charlotte Garson , Les Cahiers du cinéma, ibid.
96.
Sébastien Denis, Le cinéma de la guerre d’Algérie. La propagande à l’écran (1945–1962), ed. Nouveau Monde (2009).

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University of Algiers III, Dély Ibrahim, Algeria
Prof. Ahmed Bedjaoui

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Bedjaoui, A. (2020). Freedom Filmmakers: Pioneers in the Information Battle. In: Cinema and the Algerian War of Independence . Palgrave Studies in Arab Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37994-0_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37994-0_3
Published: 26 March 2020
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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Online ISBN: 978-3-030-37994-0
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