The Battle of Algiers Screening
Mon 23 June 2014
The Battle of Algiers
As part of Rachel Maclean’s GENERATION exhibition, CCA is pleased to present a programme of iconic international films which engage with the process of independence and social change around the world.
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 war film based on occurrences during the Algerian War (1954–62) against the French government in North Africa, the most prominent being the titular Battle of Algiers. The film, which was shot in Rossellini-inspired newsreel style - in black and white with documentary-type editing - is often associated with Italian neorealist cinema.
The film has been critically celebrated and often taken, by insurgent groups and states alike, as an important commentary on urban guerilla warfare. Algeria gained independence from the French, a matter which Pontecorvo portrays in the film's epilogue. The film concentrates on the years between 1954 and 1957 when the guerilla fighters regrouped and expanded into the Casbah, which was met by French paratroopers attempting to regain territory. The highly dramatic film is about the organization of a guerilla movement and the methods used by the colonial power to contain it.
A subject of socio-political controversy, the film wasn't screened for five years in France, where it was later released in 1971.
It occupies 48th place on the Critics' Top 250 Films of the 2012 Sight & Sound poll as well as 120th place on Empire magazine's list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.
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Programmed alongside Happy & Glorious, part of GENERATION, a landmark series of exhibitions tracing the remarkable development of contemporary art in Scotland over the last 25 years. GENERATION will bring an ambitious and extensive programme of works of art by over 100 artists to over 60 galleries, exhibition spaces and venues the length and breadth of the nation between March – November 2014, with the majority of exhibitions taking place over the summer of 2014, as part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme.
Full listings and details of the artists involved can be found on the GENERATION website.
GENERATION is a partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and Glasgow Life, supported by Creative Scotland, and is part of Culture 2014, the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme.
