In May 1975, Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina became the first Arab and African to win the Palme d’Or, the top honour at the Cannes Film Festival, for Chronicles of the Years of Fire.
It was not just a moment of cinematic triumph for the Algerian filmmaker – who has died aged 95, his family said on Friday – but a testament to his resilience. After all, the screening of Chronicles of the Years of Fire was rife with tension. Lakhdar-Hamina was facing an assassination attempt as the festival received a series of bomb threats for giving the film and the filmmaker a platform.
But what was it about Chronicles that caused such an uproar and made it one of the most politically charged titles to screen at Cannes?
The historical epic is set between the 1930s and 1954, drawing a trajectory of the events that led to the Algerian War of Independence. The film is segmented into six chapters, showing Algeria’s road to revolution through the perspective of Ahmed, a peasant who gradually becomes involved in the nationalist struggle against colonial rule.
Each chapter represents a phase in Algeria’s political awakening, beginning with drought, poverty and colonial exploitation before culminating in armed resistance and the first flares of the War of Algerian Independence.
Ahmed’s personal transformation, along with the experiences of his village, brilliantly depict this blooming political consciousness. As such, Chronicles of the Years of Fire is a portrait of the brutality of colonialism, showing how revolt was a natural result from years of repression and suffering.
Yet, Lakhdar-Hamina made not only a political film, but also a poetic one – with tastefully paced scenes and tableauxesque shots that capture the communal and cultural significance of the moment.
Lakhdar-Hamina drew from his personal background to make Chronicles. The filmmaker was born in 1934 to a peasant family in M’Sila. He studied agriculture and law in French universities. His father was kidnapped, tortured and killed by the French Army during the Algerian War.
In 1958, Lakhdar-Hamina himself deserted the French Army and joined the Algerian resistance in Tunisia. Revolution and the anticolonial struggle was a lived experience, deftly communicated through Chronicles of the Years of Fire.
The political implications of the film were towering for its time. The Algerian War had ended a mere 13 years before Chronicles was screened at Cannes. The conflict marked the end of 130 years of French colonial rule in Algeria, but it was signified by a reshaping of France’s global position and identity.
This was a change some segments of French society were not particularly happy with. The film exposed these ruptures, particularly when veterans of Organisation armee secrete – a far-right French paramilitary and terrorist group that opposed Algeria’s independence – threatened to bomb the festival and kill Lakhdar-Hamina.
Thankfully, the assassination attempt was not carried out, and Lakhdar-Hamina received his award with the pomp and ceremony he deserved.
Chronicles of the Years of Fire still stands as both a cinematic feat and a political one.
“What prevails is the motivation for the Algerian War,” Lakhdar-Hamina has been quoted as saying in an article that marks the 50th anniversary of the film on the Cannes Film Festival website. “For young people who have not known this era, this would help them understand, while older people will recognise the truth in what is being told.”
Chronicles of the Years of Fire has endured, as Lakhdar-Hamina intended, as “a film against injustice, against humiliation”, while also being a sharp historical resource. It shows how the Algerian War was not merely a fight for political freedom and land, but also a struggle to reclaim cultural identity and dignity.
Its legacy looms alongside that of the war, which continues to inform relations between France and Algeria, as well as conversations around postcolonial identity and memory.
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The End of Loneliness
Benedict Wells
Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins
Sceptre
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The Book of Collateral Damage
Sinan Antoon
(Yale University Press)
RESULTS
1.45pm: Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winners: Hyde Park, Royston Ffrench (jockey), Salem bin Ghadayer (trainer)
2.15pm: Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Shamikh, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
2.45pm: Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Hurry Up, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3.15pm: Shadwell Jebel Ali Mile Group 3 (TB) Dh575,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Blown by Wind, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
3.45pm: Handicap (TB) Dh72,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Mazagran, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
4.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh64,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner: Obeyaan, Adrie de Vries, Mujeeb Rehman
4.45pm: Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Shanaghai City, Fabrice Veron, Rashed Bouresly.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
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Available: Now
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Elvis
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MATCH INFO
AC Milan v Inter, Sunday, 6pm (UAE), match live on BeIN Sports
