Join us at the 28th Arab Film Festival for the U.S. premiere of Zinet, Algiers, Happiness, a film by Mohammed Latrèche. Zinet, Algiers, Happiness will screen in Oakland on Nov. 1st.
Who remembers Mohamed Zinet? For the cinephiles, he is only the actor who embodied “the Arab” in the French films of the 1970’s, for filmmakers such as Yves Boisset or Claude Lelouch. In Algeria, he is another person…Child of the Casbah, he is the brilliant director of Tahia ya Didou.
Some of you AFMI fans might remember Tahia ya Didou from our blog post about the Arab films screening at the Berlinale in 2018.
“All these years, I’ve worked like an archeologist to find out who Mohamed Zinet really was. I’ve met his friends, his relatives, his family. I tried to grasp this shimmering, whimsical, self-destructive character and read his destiny like an oracle. As I gradually put the pieces of the puzzle back together, I went from surprise to surprise, sometimes from disappointment to disenchantment, and from drama to drama.
To say the least, Zinet’s free-spirited tone didn’t fit in with the iniquitous, one-track thinking of independent Algeria. He was ostracized. Invisibilized… to the point of martyrdom. Between France and Algeria, between the ex-colonizer and the newly decolonized, he spent his life in an incessant, exhausting to-and-fro that became increasingly tragic. Zinet’s life is a drama, but TAHIA YA DIDOU is a celebration. In this documentary, I set out to capture this duality, to understand how this unique film made Zinet enter into history of cinema, while at the same time led him to his downfall.” – Mohammed Latrèche
You can also browse the full festival schedule and buy a festival pass.
Zinet, Algiers, Happiness
Written & Directed by MOHAMMED LATRÈCHE
UNITED STATES PREMIERE
Run Time: 57 minutes
Year: 2023
Country: Algeria, France
Language: Arabic, French
About the Director, Mohammed Latrèche
Born in 1973 in Sidi Bel-Abbès in western Algeria, Mohammed Latrèche moved to Paris in 1993 to pursue studies in political science. He now shares his life between Algeria and France. He is the director of RUMEUR, ETC. (2005), ON THE TRAIL OF EMIR ABD EL-KADER (2004), AID TO RETURN (2009).
Zinet, Algiers, Happiness will screen in Oakland on Nov. 1st.
For more information about the 28th Arab Film Festival, visit arabfilmfestival.org
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