The spring 2022 season of the Mizna Film Series highlights recently restored works by Algerian filmmakers in diaspora. Curated by Mizna’s Film Programming Coordinator Ahmed Abdulmageed, the two-month segment presents films produced during the global leftist movements in the 1970s. This selection celebrates Algerian filmmakers and their collaborators, Farouk Beloufa, Djouhra Abouda, and Alain Bonnamy, who captured the political complexities of the moment, as well as the rhythmic and aesthetic make-up of their diasporas, by breaking away from traditional filmic forms.
Farouk Beloufa's only feature film follows a group of leftist friends in Beirut in the early 1970s. Larbi, a young Algerian journalist reporting in Lebanon, is swept up in the whirlwind of events following the January 1975 battle of Kfarchouba. As Beirut sinks into chaos, Larbi meets a young singer, Nahla, who loses her voice in the middle of a performance at the Piccadilly theater. An exploration of war through photography and cinematography, Nahla is also a love story. Starring Yasmine Khlat and featuring a soundtrack composed by renowned Lebanese musician Ziad Rahbani.
This restoration maintains some of the French subtitles from the original film print. They are often visible under the English subtitles, and they can be a bit distracting at times. Mizna wants to make sure our audience is aware of this issue, but we also want to note that we are so excited to share a version of this film with English subtitles at all. The images look spectacular, and they make up the sometimes inconveniently placed subtitles.
- Year1979
- Runtime109 minutes
- LanguageArabic
- CountryAlgeria, Lebanon
- DirectorFarouk Beloufa
- ScreenwriterFarouk Beloufa
- CastYasmine Khlat, Roger Assaf, Lina Tebbara
- EditorMoufida Tlatli
The spring 2022 season of the Mizna Film Series highlights recently restored works by Algerian filmmakers in diaspora. Curated by Mizna’s Film Programming Coordinator Ahmed Abdulmageed, the two-month segment presents films produced during the global leftist movements in the 1970s. This selection celebrates Algerian filmmakers and their collaborators, Farouk Beloufa, Djouhra Abouda, and Alain Bonnamy, who captured the political complexities of the moment, as well as the rhythmic and aesthetic make-up of their diasporas, by breaking away from traditional filmic forms.
Farouk Beloufa's only feature film follows a group of leftist friends in Beirut in the early 1970s. Larbi, a young Algerian journalist reporting in Lebanon, is swept up in the whirlwind of events following the January 1975 battle of Kfarchouba. As Beirut sinks into chaos, Larbi meets a young singer, Nahla, who loses her voice in the middle of a performance at the Piccadilly theater. An exploration of war through photography and cinematography, Nahla is also a love story. Starring Yasmine Khlat and featuring a soundtrack composed by renowned Lebanese musician Ziad Rahbani.
This restoration maintains some of the French subtitles from the original film print. They are often visible under the English subtitles, and they can be a bit distracting at times. Mizna wants to make sure our audience is aware of this issue, but we also want to note that we are so excited to share a version of this film with English subtitles at all. The images look spectacular, and they make up the sometimes inconveniently placed subtitles.
- Year1979
- Runtime109 minutes
- LanguageArabic
- CountryAlgeria, Lebanon
- DirectorFarouk Beloufa
- ScreenwriterFarouk Beloufa
- CastYasmine Khlat, Roger Assaf, Lina Tebbara
- EditorMoufida Tlatli