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Chroniques fidèles survenues au siècle dernier à l’hôpital psychiatrique Blida-Joinville, au temps où le Docteur Frantz Fanon était chef de la cinquième division entre 1953 et 1956

True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in the Last Century, when Dr Frantz Fanon Was Head of the Fifth Ward between 1953 and 1956
Forum 2024
© Shellac / Atlas Film Production
In 1953, Dr. Frantz Fanon from Martinique takes up his position as head doctor at a psychiatric clinic in Blida, Algeria. Racist colonial psychiatry dominates everyday life in the clinic. The French are housed separately from the Muslims, and the conditions in the Muslim unit are shocking: patients are restrained and tranquilised against their will. Fanon introduces a new approach, which includes group discussions and greater responsibilities for the nursing staff. He initiates a patient newspaper, a café, the site for a football pitch, and helps restore the mosque. He increasingly supports the clandestine Algerian resistance movement. This feature film by Abdenour Zahzah was made in Blida, and the episodes are given a charge by the committed performance of Alexandre Desane in the title role, and by the protagonists involved, including Fanon’s son Olivier, who plays a friend of his father’s. The project is based on conversations with those there at the time and the comprehensive research carried out for the documentary Frantz Fanon, mémoire d’asile (2002, Abdenour Zahzah, Bachir Ridouh), which is developed further here by means of fiction.
by Abdenour Zahzah
with Alexandre Desane, Gérard Dubouche, Nicolas Dromard, Omar Boulakirba, Amal Kateb, Catherine Boskowitz, Chahrazad Kracheni, Kader Affak Algeria / France 2024 Arabic, French 90’ Black/White World premiere

With

  • Alexandre Desane
  • Gérard Dubouche
  • Nicolas Dromard
  • Omar Boulakirba
  • Amal Kateb
  • Catherine Boskowitz
  • Chahrazad Kracheni
  • Kader Affak

Crew

Director Abdenour Zahzah
Screenplay Abdenour Zahzah
Cinematography Aurélien Py
Editing Abdenour Zahzah, Youcef Abba
Sound Frédéric Salles
Production Design Maya Mancer
Costumes Asma Ben Naoum, Julia Didier
Make-Up Karima Laouir, Linda Cherouati
Casting Wodjooh
Producer Abdenour Zahzah
Co-Producer Thomas Ordonneau
Co-Production Shellac Marseille

Produced by

Atlas Film Production

Photos

Abdenour Zahzah

Abdenour Zahzah was born in 1973 in Blida, Algeria. He pursued audiovisual studies at Algiers University from 1993 to 1997, then chaired the Blida Cinematheque from 1998 to 2004. He is also a producer through his company, Atlas Film, based in Blida.

Filmography

2002 Frantz Fanon, mémoire d’aisle 2007 Le Non-Faire · Maurice Pons, un écrivan de l’étrange (Maurice Pons, a writer of the strange) 2010 Gargouz 2011 Andalucia 2012 El Oued El Oued (The River) 2023 Pierre Clément, Cinéma & Revolution 2024 Chroniques fidèles survenues au siècle dernier à l’hôpital psychiatrique Blida-Joinville, au temps où le Docteur Frantz Fanon était chef de la cinquième division entre 1953 et 1956

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2024