The Winds of the Aures (Le Vent des Aurès)
Tribute to Algerian Cinema
Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina / Feature Narrative / Algeria / 1966 / 95 min / Black & White / HDCAM
In Arabic, French / Arabic, English, French subtitles
Interests: History, War
Qatar Premiere
Synopsis
This black-and-white film – the first road movie of Algerian cinema – presents one of the most readily apparent, though subtle, transformations of the daily life of the people of Algeria brought about by the ordeal of French occupation and the war of liberation. With military repression in full force, a peasant woman finds herself alone in her house in the mountains when her only son is taken away by French soldiers soon after her husband is killed in a raid. One day, on seeing a dead chicken, which she considers a bad omen, she decides to leave home, and sets off on a tiring journey through the mountains. With a pair of chickens in tow, she moves from one detention camp to the next in a desperate search for her missing son. The film was inspired by events experienced by the family of its director.
About the Directors
Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina was born in M’sila, Algeria, in 1934 and is one of the most prominent and influential filmmakers of contemporary Arab cinema. His ‘Chronicle of the Years of Fire’ (1975), about the Algerian War of Independence, was the first Arab production to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
Credits
- Director
- Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina
- Screenwriter
- Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina , Tewfik Farès
- Producer
- Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina
- Editor
- Hamid Djellouli, Liazid Khodja
- Music
- Philippe Arthuys
- Cinematographer
- Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Abdelkader Bouziane
- Cast
- Mohamed Chouikh, Kelthoum, Hassan Hassani, Thania Timgad