Tahar Hannache

The Well-Digger's Daughter

A rural maiden's two suitors go off to war, leaving her pregnant.

The Sandman

Lieutenant Varnière, responsible for discovering the cause of the death of two officers in Algeria, unmasks the assassin in the person of a Russian who lives with three women. He falls in love with one of them and runs away with her while the Russian is killed by a devoted servant.

La Bandera

Pierre Gilieth has committed a murder in Paris. He flees to Barcelona, where he runs out of money. So he joins the Spanish Foreign Legion. He meets there two fellow countrymen, Mulot and Lucas. He tries to forget his fault... but Lucas's friendship soon appears to be less unselfish...

The Black Angels

Two brothers-in-law hate each other but, for business interests, they want their respective son and daughter to marry. The young fiancées are not in agreement, as the boy has a happy relationship with a woman, and the girl is in an isolation mood. A crime happens, and the relations amongst this sad family become even worse.

Cousin Bette

A poor relative, cousin Bette is cast aside by a wealthy family. Embittered and jealous, she devotes herself to the systematic destruction of those around her. Max de Rieux's adaptation takes the decision to return to the initial meeting of the Hulot couple as if to show the degradation of the pure feelings and sublime aspirations of youth in bloody competition and irresistible perversion in materialist society.

Sarati the Terrible

In Algiers, Cesar Sarati who grudges the dockers, is, without realizing it, in love with his niece. But Rose loves Gilbert, a former gambler and debauchee who, out of love for her, changes his life. On the wedding day, Sarati commits suicide.

L'Atlantide

Two men, lost in the desert, meet Queen Antinea, ruler of Atlantis.

Bouzareah

Arriving aboard the liner “Ville d’Alger”, young French citizens go to Bouzareah to follow a one-year professional training course at the École Normale. After acquiring the basics of the Arabic language and culture, the future teachers are trained to teach the population the basics of modern agriculture, manual work and hygiene. A study trip concludes the training. The teachers are then sent to the regions of their choice, where they will put their knowledge at the service of the inhabitants.

Blind Venus

Vénus aveugle (Blind Venus) is a 1941 French film melodrama, directed by Abel Gance, and one of the first films to be undertaken in France during the German occupation. Although the film is not set in any specified period, Gance wanted it to be seen as relevant to the contemporary situation in France. He wrote, "...La Vénus aveugle is at the crossroads of reality and legend... The heroine ... gradually sinks deeper and deeper into despair. Only when she has reached the bottom of the abyss does she encounter the smile of Providence that life reserves for those who have faith in it, and she can then go serenely back up the slope towards happiness. If I have been able to show in this film that elevated feelings are the only force that can triumph over Fate, then my efforts will not have been in vain."

Southern Cross

In the Sahara, Algeria, the leader of the Tuaregs, Aftan, saves a girl from the hands of a caravan of pillars. Madeleine falls in love with her savior and their marriage is decided. But Aftan understands that he will never be assimilated with Europeans, and he goes back to find the beautiful poet Dassine whom he had loved before.

Street Without Joy

Jeanne supports supports his family on his modest salary. Her boss is arrested for fraud. Jeanne is forced, out of poverty, in the street.

Gangster malgré lui

The crazy adventures of a character forced by circumstances to take on such dangerous professions as those of gangster, burglar, Chinese chiropodist and amateur detective.

Monsieur Bégonia

A young man who applies for the position of general manager in a fashion house has not reached the desired age. Thanks to a skilful make-up, he gives himself the required appearance and under the name of Monsieur Bégonia, now presides over the destinies of the house.

The Marriages of Mademoiselle Levy

The tailors Moïse and Salomon Lévy decide to marry Mina, Salomon's daughter to a good match, to save themselves from the competition that Cohen makes for them. Mina will eventually succeed in marrying Pierre, from a marriage of love, without this harming the family business.

The Desert Divers

Les Plongeurs Du Désert, directed by Tahar Hannache in 1952, is considered the first entirely Algerian fiction film. It tells the story of the inhabitants of an oasis whose well has dried up. The village elder, Sheikh Messaoud, calls upon the renowned desert divers, artisans specializing in clearing sand- and silt-filled wells, to restore access to the vital water for the community. After their intervention, the water begins to flow again, bringing relief to the oasis and its inhabitants. The film depicts the contrast between the traditional techniques of the divers, embodied by Sheikh Ali and his son Mansour, and the arrival of modernity, represented by the machine that ultimately replaces their craft. This story symbolizes the marginalization of local knowledge in the face of technological progress and the social injustice of the colonial era.

Un meurtre a été commis

Inspector Doirel investigates the murder of a man whose servant was found tied up. He discovers very quickly that the servant has lied. The latter ends up denouncing his accomplice who is arrested when he was going to kill the informer.

Ceux De Demain

Jean is ten years old and imagines that he is the cause of the misunderstanding that occurred between his parents. He leaves the military institute where he studies and becomes the protégé of an opera singer at whose house, one day, he surprises a thief who blesses him. His parents reconcile at the foot of his hospital bed.

Sidonie Panache

In 1842, during the conquest of Algeria Sidonie Panache disguised as a Soave runs away with her lover who is doing his military service there.

La Corniche d'Amour

Two rich tourists, a photographer and a painter, meet during a walk in Kabylia. Their wanderings are an opportunity to highlight the many tourist and picturesque places on the Algerian coast. This film commissioned by the Defense Communication and Audiovisual Production Establishment (ECPAD), attempts to sell a tourist destination when Algeria was in flames with the outbreak of the Algerian national liberation war. Filmed with the colonial lens of the time, the natives are only one element of a picturesque setting, and the final kiss between a French woman and an Arab man is an attempt to demonstrate a pacified country. Despite everything, the film constitutes a precious archive for Béjaïa, which is the subject for the first time of a film which immortalizes a moment in its history, and to introduce the work of Tahar Hannache, actor, cinematographer and director, one of the pioneers of Algerian cinema.

Firmin de Saint-Pataclet

Firmin, who returned mute from the war of 14-18, has never displeased anyone for twenty years in terms of political life where low blows, jealousy and betrayal are rife in his Provençal village. But an explosion gives him the floor.

Moulin Rouge

A poor wretch, who has just been hired as a music-hall artist, in spite of himself becomes the tenant of a particular Parisian building.

Serenade for Mariam

Serenade at Meryem (Ma'zafa muhda ila Maryam) is a film by Norbert Gernolle with the Algerian opera singer Mahieddine Bachtarzi, filmed in Fez in 1946.