In Algeria, the impossible rehabilitation of cinemas

In the alleys and dead ends of the center of Algiers, only a trained eye manages to unearth the last traces. Dozens of cinemas, witnesses of the prosperous period of the post-independence years for Algerian cinema, are no more than a memory. Some keep closed doors, others have been transformed into screening rooms for football matches, ready-to-wear stores or pizzerias.

In three decades, the seventh art has collapsed, faced with many structural problems, starting with the obsolescence into which dark rooms have fallen.

At independence in 1962, there were a little over 450 across the country, including about fifty in the capital Algiers and around thirty in Oran, in the west. “From now on, there are about ten left in Algiers. But the rooms are not operated continuously ”, regrets Nourreddine Louhal, journalist and author of Save our cinemas. Act II (ed. Aframed, 2019), in which he lists these places steeped in history.

From the nationalization of theaters by President Ahmed Ben Bella in 1964 to the privatization and sale of certain places, the author retraces the course of this heritage. It tells the golden age of Algerian film production in the 1970s and 1980s, marked by numerous comedies and historical films, including Chronicle of the years of embers by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1975, then its decline. In 1999, there were only one or two films a year. The country then saw the last years of the civil war, a period during which the Algerians abandoned theaters.

“Places of debauchery”

“My parents have always been perplexed at the idea of ​​taking us to see a film with the family”, says Abdelraouf Meraga, 26 years old. For the past few months, this culture enthusiast has co-edited Cilimastation (“Station de cinéma”), a series of videos and podcasts in Arabic to present Algerian and foreign films.

In his town of Blida, fifty kilometers west of Algiers, “ there was no room or rather only one “, quickly corrects the young man. “It was located right in the center but had a very bad reputation. People were taking drugs ”, tells Abdelraouf Meraga who also cites the many Algiers rooms which still carry the image of “Places of debauchery”.

Some rooms transformed for several years into commercial premises are practically irrecoverable, underlines Ammar Kessab, researcher in cultural policy. “They have not only lost their original configurations, because of the anarchic works undertaken by the traders, but they are for the most part dilapidated, even destroyed, because of the lack of maintenance”, continues the researcher who calls for “Draw a line on the past and develop new cinemas by freeing private and independent initiative “.

In Algeria, the majority of cinemas have passed under the bosom of local authorities, in particular municipalities. “Lack of artistic and cultural sense among “elected” local “, lack of vision and patronage: the disappearance of cinemas can also be explained by “The decay of the national political scene”, says Ammar Kessab.

“Heliopolis”, the exception

Another factor, and not the least: the cost of renovations, which weighs heavily on municipal budgets, says an observer of Algerian cultural life who wishes to remain anonymous. “Even if it does not show it directly, the State wants to delegate the management of culture to the private sector but it does not trust. The authorities do not want especially that there are rooms which show films going against the official vision ”, continues the latter.

The result is final. In 1978, there were 40 million admissions for a population of some 20 million people, recalls Nourreddine Louhal in his book. Today, in spite of the rehabilitation of several places of diffusion, it remains difficult to reconcile the Algerian public with the diffusion in theaters. The small range of offers offered by the venues in activity does not help: American productions of the 2000s, action films and cartoons do not really attract viewers.

In recent weeks, a brightening has appeared in this gloomy picture. The film Heliopolis, a 100% Algerian production produced in 2019 by Djaffar Gacem and theatrically released in May 2021, has met with great success with 13,000 admissions recorded in a few days. The feature film, already screened in thirteen regions of the country, traces the life of a family from eastern Algeria whose son, with a promising future, finally joined the independence movement shortly before the May 8 massacres. 1945.

Driven by a marathon tour of its team, the film which wants to represent Algeria at the Oscars also benefited from a very strong communication campaign on social networks and a broadcast of its trailer on television channels. public.

In foreign festivals

“The CADC [Centre algérien de développement du cinéma, également producteur d’Héliopolis] is in the process of releasing the films that are in the drawers. Some date from 2007 and have never been shown to the public ”, explains Abdelraouf Meraga, who evokes a change of vision brought by Nabila Rezaïg, director of this organization responsible for the promotion of cinema, which would be more oriented towards youth and creation.

In the wake ofHeliopolis, other Algerian films are on view but are struggling to meet the same success. Some are paying the price for non-compliance with schedules – schedule changes or untimely cancellations – by theaters regularly denounced by spectators. Sunday June 27, two screenings of the film Abu Leila, produced in 2019 by Franco-Algerian Amin Sidi-Boumédiène and whose national release took place three days previously, were canceled at the last minute.

With the worsening of the economic crisis under the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, professionals in the sector fear that the little public funding that exists will wane. Fdatic, a national fund created in 1967 to develop film production, is also threatened with disappearance. In a letter sent to the government in March, several directors, screenwriters and actors denounced an arbitrary decision synonymous with “Killing of Algerian cinema”.

If they still struggle to make themselves heard and to broadcast their film in their own country, young Algerian directors mark foreign festivals with their presence, like Mounia Meddour whose film Papicha won two Césars in 2020 and the Fifog d’or in June during the 16^e edition of the Geneva International Oriental Film Festival.

The feature film, already available on the Netflix streaming platform, has never been broadcast in Algeria. The preview, announced for September 2019 and canceled without explanation, was to take place in July, subject to the health situation permitting.