A few curious heads emerge from the windows of a peaceful alley in the lower casbah of Algiers. ” Engine ! It turns to sound, silence! Stock ! », howls the assistant director who has just placed extras. Sitting in front of a door, actress Aïda Ababsa, who plays Saliha Cheklala (Saliha confuses her), tries to sell jewelry to passers-by. The scene is brief. “Cut”shouts the director, Yahia Mouzahem, of the flagship series of this Ramadan in Algeria, Al Dama (“Le jeu de dames”) which turns its last episode that Friday.
The series, produced by the Algerian national channel EPTV and broadcast during Ramadan, ended on April 17, recording more than 4 million views per episode, on YouTube and on the air. It tells the daily life of a district of Bab-El-Oued, in the form of a social fresco that addresses the ills of Algerian society, between poverty, trafficking and the desire to succeed. Its success, believes Yahia Mouzahem, shows at least one thing: “Algerian viewers want stories that tell them and with their language”. A godsend for a completely devastated Algerian cinema industry.
Will the series be the lifeline of the sector? The director ofAl Dama wants to believe it. With the modernization and development of sound and image equipment, “to make a series is to make films for the general public, he underlines. For us, directors and technicians, it’s the same staging work. What changes is the number of viewers..
Only three films released in theaters in 2023
An outlet all the more interesting since Algerian production, hit by the crisis which began with the abolition, two years ago, of the only film financing fund in the country, is on the bone. Only three movies managed to hit theaters in 2023. Among them, The Last Queen by Adila Bendimerad and Damien Ounouri, supposed to be released in May in Algeria.
For film professionals, Ramadan series have become a means of subsistence. Apart from the holy month, no contemporary Algerian film is programmed on private or public channels. “After two difficult years linked to Covid-19 and the lack of filming, this period is an opportunity to provide our actors with a salary and to be able to work, in financial security, on film projects for the rest of the year. », explains Fouad Trifi, co-founder of the Wojooh casting agency.
“In recent years, technicians have mainly worked for television programs, advertising or series, which has allowed a transfer of skills”, underlines Karim Moussaoui, who tried these new formats after having presented in 2017 at Cannes Waiting for the swallows, in the Un certain regard selection. Tour in Bou Saada (south-east of Algiers), his series Ain el Djanna (“La source du paradis”) is distinguished from sitcoms by its neat aesthetic. A dramatic comedy, it recounts the return of a woman who returns to her native village after decades of absence and discovers that she is a candidate there, despite herself, in the municipal elections.
Censorship before broadcast
If they have the merit of allowing those who design them to work, these Ramadan series are not without stains. “We are shooting an episode which should air tomorrow and we are not sure of having the budget to finish, while the script has been validated for more than a year, says a technician. It’s the same thing every year. It’s as if they weren’t sure that Ramadan was going to happen on that date. »
Sometimes difficult filming conditions which are often coupled with censorship before broadcast by the television channels themselves which sometimes confuse the narration. The reasons given for these cuts, which can reach several minutes: respect for morals, family values, religion and the national narrative, or the higher interests of the nation.
Practices that weigh on creators while consultations between film and audiovisual professionals and the Algerian Ministry of Culture continue in anticipation of the upcoming adoption of the bill relating to the film industry. In a press release published at the end of March, the Collective of Algerian and Algerian filmmakers (CCAA) says it refuses “any discussion regarding this law until the articles providing for such vague censorship provisions and prison sentences are permanently removed.”