An Algerian who travels can feel out of place everywhere, except in Barbès, a district in the 18th arrondissement of the French capital. It is this piece of Algeria in Paris that the Franco-Algerian filmmaker tried to depict Hassan Guerrar in his first feature film, “Barbès, little Algérie”.
Hassan Guerrar, 57, took an unequivocal look at this popular neighborhood which has the highest concentration of the Algerian diaspora in France. Without the subjectivity that one might expect, the director himself being from Algerian immigration.
The film is released on Tuesday October 15 in theaters in France, in a context that could not have been better – or worse -. A context marked by passionate debates on immigration, recurring attacks which target Algerians in France more than other foreigners, yet another political crisis between the two countries…
Hassan Guerrar chose to delve into the depths of Barbès during an exceptional period, unlike any other, that of the health crisis and its restrictions.
This is perhaps the desired aim, the film conveys the image of a neighborhood which continues to live while the rest of the country, and the world, is at a standstill, cloistered.
Barbès seems to live outside of time, outside of France. The streets are very lively and everything continues to run as if nothing had happened, the businesses and of course the small traffic, the fights, the solidarity and the generosity…
The story takes place in 2020. A forty-year-old, Malek, newly settled in Montmartre, an emblematic district of the district, welcomes Ryad, a cousin who came directly from Algeria, into his home.
Malek doesn’t know Barbès any more than his cousin. It is together that they will discover the Algerian district of France. They will meet many people, witness many scenes which, in the end, will allow Malek to discover a part of himself and reconcile himself with these origins.
It’s a nod to the past, but also to the present. It is in Barbès that many new Algerian immigrants, often undocumented, land, those who have been talked about so much in France for some time.
“Barbes, little Algeria”: a nod to the past and especially to the present
For the casting, Guerrar chose actors who easily fit into the skin of the main characters. Sofiane Zermani played the role of Malek and Khalil Gharbia that of Ryad.
Despite his success in Rap, Zermani told AFP about “this thing of not being at home, anywhere”, explaining that “you end up thinking you’re at home somewhere, until we come to remind you where you come from, who you are, and to calm down.”
The director himself experienced the heartbreak that we sense throughout the film. His attachment to his Algerian origins transcended the difficulties. His parents returned to Algeria when he was ten years old, leaving him alone to face the vicissitudes of exile. “I found myself in squats, I was left to my own devices. I lived in Passage Moulin, Gare de Lyon,” he says on the set of France 5.
Before going behind the camera, he was a cinematographic press officer, accompanying numerous works by Algerian, French or Franco-Algerian directors, such as Papicha by Mounia Meddour, London River and Indigènes by Rachid Bouchareb, La Graine et le Mulet by Abdellatif Kechiche…
To do this job as press officer, he was asked to stop being called Hassan and become François.
“When I started in 1984, being called Mohamed or Kamel was simply not possible in life (…) One day I found a job as a courier, they found that I was doing well. GOOD. It allowed me to meet people. Then, I was asked to be a press officer, but I had to change my first name: I said ok, but I would never hide that I am Algerian. I am very proud to be a dual national! “, he testified.
It was in 1984. Forty years later, France does not seem to have changed too much. Just a few days before the release of Hassan Guerrar’s first film, a young girl sparked an uproar on social networks by recording a job interview in which she was clearly told that if she wanted to get the job, she had to choose a another “more appropriate” first name.
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