Fidaï

About this IDEA

Fidaï is a French and Algerian film, with Chinese, German and Kuwaiti co-producers, shot in Algeria and France, in 2011. We have just ended the post-production work and we are very happy and glad to present the film to Aflamnah! The producers Mathieu Mullier-Griffiths and Alexandre Singer, and the director Damien Ounouri, joined by his main character and grand-uncle El Hadi, will soon be off to Toronto, in Canada, where they have been invited to present Fidaï as an official selected film at the Toronto International Film Festival ! http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/fidai

Thank you in advance for your interest in Fidaï, and if you like it and enjoy our work, you are very welcome to share your feelings with all your contacts all around the world, and to talk about our crowdfuning campaign on Aflamnah!

SYNOPSIS

‘We have won the War, but the Revolution has only just begun.’  Che Guevara

During the Algerian revolution, my great-uncle joined his sister in France and integrated a secret FLN armed group. Settling of scores, attempted murder, hiding, imprisonment and finally expulsion in 1962, his personal journey tells the story of countless ex-fighters for Algerian independence, and echoes the current effervescence of the Arab World. Today, at the age of seventy, El Hadi reveals this dark part of his life.

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

What History remembers from wars is numbers, highlights and legends. What has actually been experienced by its participants, their day-to-day, personal stories, feelings are not passed on to us. I want to give them back an identity, taking a more sensitive and human way that begins from the individual and heads towards major events.

El Hadi is one of these humble soldiers. When I was a child, I often questioned my father about him. Since the elders were keeping a kind of lid over this period, his story was revealed to me only through mere footnotes and my imagination was filling the gaps with adventures.

We are following the itinerary of El Hadi during the Algerian Revolution. Through his words and the discussions with people he meets, we discover the story of his actions in different locations in Algeria and France. A dialogue between his personal story and the official history is being created.

Why is this idea important?

Through Fidaï, I wish to bring a fresh perspective on the Algerian Revolution, a subjective and necessary look. In view of the situation of the increasing loss of its participants, it is urgent to build a memory that binds the intimate to the collective, my generation with that of the elders and encourages dialogue.

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the Algerian Revolution / Independence. Currently the whole of North African / Arab region is in upheaval. This film sheds light on questions of historical knowledge and the collective silence about crucial historical and political events in the region, using the example of what used to be the role model of Arab emancipation.

More about this idea

Damien OUNOURI was born in Clermont-Ferrand, France in 1982 to a French mother and Algerian father. He studied film theory at Sorbonne University, while developing his cinema practice with independent filmmakers group, Li Hua Films.

His first documentary Xiao Jia going home (2008) on the Chinese director Jia Zhang-Ke – Still Life (2006), I wish I knew (2010) – was screened at many festivals around the world. He has directed several short films and documentaries. He is also a tutor, conducting cinema workshops for children and teenagers in Algeria and France.

What is the funding for?

Your contribution to the film will help us finish our work: paying for the rights (archives, music, poetry), paying the professionals who have worked for free, creating copies of the movie in different formats, editing subtitles in several different langages.

About Kafard Films

KAFARD FILMS (France, Paris) was created by young producers, the company developed itself since now 4 years in Paris, in a place where we create international creative collaborations between directors, actors, and technicians. After producing and co-producing several short films and documentaries during the last few years, we started our first feature production with Fidai and created at the same time our own technical department in 2D and 3D. Today we are developing feature films, such as Adentro, and Inferno.

in association with Xstream Pictures

XSTREAM PICTURES (China, Beijing) was created by Jia Zhang-Ke. Its aim is to explore and to promote talented directors. The company mainly produces and distributes Chinese-language films. Its recent productions are: The World (2004), Still Life (2006), Useless (2007), 24 City(2008) and I Wish I Knew (2010) directed by Jia Zhang-Ke; Walking On The Wild Side (2006) and Mr. Tree (2011) directed by Han Jie; Plastic City (2008) directed by Yu Likwai; Yulu (2011) produced by Jia Zhang-Ke.

in co-production with:

CIRTA FILMS (Algeria) Launched in 1997 by Hachemi Zertal and based in Constantine, is the first private distribution company created in Algeria. It is the country partners of Warner Bros and Misr Films. It produces features, fiction and documentaries, such as Malek Bensmail’s China is still far (2009) awarded in Nantes, Tetouan and Munich film festivals.

MEC FILM (Germany) - Irit Neidhardt. Mec Film is a distibution, co-production and consultaney company for films exclusively from the Middle East. We represent short, medium and feature length documentary and fiction films that offer a different perspective on the region : always from an inside perspective. On the background of ongoing debates about the region, we want to add a different angle and show films that are made in the Middle East. Each year we release one to two of the finest full length films, from the Middle East in German theatres and pick up to four high quality short and medium length art and documentary films for World Sales. In 2005 we started a DVD-edition of selected work from the catalogue. For sales to academie and research librairies Mec Film works with prestigious agent Harrassowitz.

LINKED PRODUCTIONS (Kuwait) Focused on projects in Asia and Africa with a special emphasis on Arab filmmakers and the MENA region. Current co-productions include Nomad’s Home (Iman Kamel/Germany-Egypt), Fidai (Damien Ounouri/France-Algeria), Dance with a Ballet (Dhyaa Khaled Joda/Belgium-Iraq), 2055 (Laila Hotait & Rania Tawfik/Spain-Denmark) and The Man Inside (Karim Goury/France-Kuwait). Talal Al-Muhanna is a member of the EAVE network and holds an MA in Film Production from Leeds Metropolitan University (UK).