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Boualem is a young man who works the local bakery’s graveyard shift in the Bab El-Oued district of Algiers. One morning, shortly after the bloody riots of October, 1988, he commits an unthinking act which jeopardizes the entire district: Unable to stand the noise from one of the many rooftop loudspeakers broadcasting the propaganda of a local fundamentalist group, he rips the speaker out and throws it away. The extremists, led by Said, regard this act as deliberately provocative and aim to make an example of the culprit. Merzak Allouache's exposure of the inherent dangers in the recent rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria has attracted considerable attention, winning both a Fipresci (International Film Critics) prize and a Prix Gervais when it was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.
Merzak Allouache was recently awarded the Reba Steward and Genevieve McMillan Award for Distinguished Filmmaking by the Harvard Film Archive. A collection of his films was screened in Cambridge in February 2006.
"Bab el-Oued City is to date the most lucid depiction on film of the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Algeria." -Variety
"As gutsy a movie as I have recently seen." -Chicago Tribune
Rental Information
This film is available on 35mm and video from AFD for public screenings and television broadcast. For information regarding rental rates and formats, please contact institutions@arabfilm.com for institutional/non-theatrical screenings, or festivals@arabfilm.com for theatrical, festival, television, or other bookings.
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