1. Merzak Allouache is one of the most influential Algerian filmmakers, considered by some to be the most important.
17 Facts About Merzak Allouache
1. 2.
Merzak Allouache was born in the Algiers neighborhood of Bab el-Oued.
3.
Merzak Allouache's father was a Kabyle Berber postal worker and his mother was an Algerian housewife from Casbah.
4.
Merzak Allouache began his studies in 1964 at the Institute for Cinema in Algiers.
5.
Merzak Allouache completed his studies at l'IDHEC in Paris.
6.
Merzak Allouache returned to Algeria in 1973 and worked on organizing CineBus campaigns in support of the agrarian revolution.
7.
Merzak Allouache worked as an advisor for the Ministry of Culture.
8.
Merzak Allouache directed a documentary film about this work called Nous et la revolution agraire in 1972.
9.
Merzak Allouache gained international fame in 1977 by directing his first feature film Omar Gatlato, which takes a cynical but realistic look at the alienation of men in Algerian society, which was selected at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes and won a Silver Medal at the Moscow Film Festival.
10.
Merzak Allouache returned to France and wrote a screenplay for TF1, Parlez apres le signal sonore, and, in 1987, directed a feature film Un amour a Paris, a love story about two Algerians: a model and an ex-con, screened in the Perspectives of French Cinema section at the Cannes Film Festival, winning the Perspectives of French Cinema Prize.
11.
Merzak Allouache returned to Algeria in 1988 in the aftermath of the October riots.
12.
Merzak Allouache filmed video documentaries on the political situation with many interviews that were gathered in three documentaries for ARTE: L'Apres-Octobre, Femmes en mouvements, and Vie et mort des journalistes algeriens.
13.
Merzak Allouache was forced to leave for France in the 1990s due to dangerous conditions for working artists In 1996, he directed a film about two cousins navigating racism in Paris, Salut Cousin, which was screened in the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival, won a Thanit d'or at the Carthage Film Festival, and was submitted to the 69th Academy Awards.
14.
Since 2000, Merzak Allouache has alternated his productions or co-productions between Algeria and France, where he lives.
15.
Merzak Allouache directed Bab el-Web in 2004, a comedy about the effects of the internet on Algerian youth.
16.
In 2009, Merzak Allouache wrote and directed the film Harragas, the story of young Algerian refugees who fled their home country on small boats into the Mediterranean.
17.
Merzak Allouache has one daughter, Bahia Merzak Allouache, who is a filmmaker.