The Algerian Cinema keeps in the running for the Oscars Nominations

      Algeria is the only Arab and African country to have submitted the most applications for the Oscars with 16 nominations for Best Foreign Film ,that have been accepted by the Academy of Arts and Cinema since 1969. Algeria has been nominated four times in shortlist and three times with Rachid Bouchareb for his films "Dust of Life, Native "and" Outlaw ".

   Algeria once won the Oscar in 1970 with the film "Z" by Costa Gavras .It is a Franco-Algerian film which is released in 1969 and which has been shot in the city of Algiers because its architecture looks very much like Athens. The actors Hassan El Hassani and Sid Ahmed Agoumi participated in this work which lasts for 127 minutes. The subject of the film is the transition from democracy to a dictatorial authoritarian regime. It tells the story, in the 1960s, in a country in the Mediterranean basin, a progressive MP is murdered. The investigating judge highlights the role of the government, including the army (gendarmerie) and the police, in this assassination. So, the film is based on a real fact that is the assassination of Greek MP Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963 in Thessaloniki, Greece. Z means "he is alive"; opponents inscribed this letter on the walls to protest against the assassination of Lambrakis.

   The film "Z" received the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1970, the film, also, received the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in Hollywood and it is Algeria which was credited with this reward. 

    As every year, the Algerian Cinema is preparing to submit its candidature for the Oscars for the best foreign language film. A commission has been set up by the Ministry of Culture to choose the film that will represent Algeria at the Oscars in February 2017. The commission is composed of four members, chaired by Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina, the dean of the Algerian filmmakers, chairman Ahmed Bedjaoui , Yacine Laloui  and Yazid Khodja( producers) in order  to choose between two Algerian films: "The well" by Lotfi Bouchouchi and "On the Road to Istanbul" by Rachid Bouchareb. They have favored the film "The Well" of Lotfi Bouchouchi because of its success in festivals around the world. It has won 10 awards through festivals in Alexandria, Montreal, Oujda, Oman, Carthage and recently Oran. It evokes the Algerian revolution through the suffering of the inhabitants of a village while the film of Bouchareb ;"On the Road to Istanbul" does not mention Algeria and speaks instead  the story of a Belgian mother, who saw her daughter go to Syria to do the Jihad. "On the road to Istanbul" was first shown out of competition at the Berlin Film Festival and was later screened at the African Film Festival in Paris. It won the Best Screenplay Award in Morocco.

The Algerian Cinema keeps in the running for the Oscars Nominations   Written by ARAB Sabrina