GUERRE SANS IMAGES

Algérie, je sais ce que tu sais

Mohammed Soudani
Algeria, Switzerland 2002 | 90 Min.

After thirty years away, the Alger­ian film­mak­er Soudani returns to his home­land, accom­pa­nied by the pho­tog­ra­ph­er Michael von Graf­fen­ried, who has long been doc­u­ment­ing the open wounds of Alge­ria. Togeth­er they seek out the indi­vid­u­als who fea­tured in Graffenried’s pho­tographs, to find out what has become of them and what they think of these pho­tographs. The meet­ing with the pho­tog­ra­ph­er and his pic­tures, of which they were not aware of at the time, gives these people the oppor­tu­ni­ty to talk about their mem­o­ries of dra­mat­ic moments, per­son­al strokes of fate, and the cru­el­ty of aggres­sors. They describe their every­day lives in Alge­ria today, their fears, and their hopes. It is a film about the fate of human being behind a pho­to­graph, but also about the demands and the lim­i­ta­tions of the camera, the use and abuse of images.