Chroniques fidèles survenues au siècle dernier à l’hôpital psychiatrique Blida-Joinville, au temps où le Docteur Frantz Fanon était chef de la cinquième division entre 1953 et 1956

In 1953, Dr. Frantz Fanon from Martinique takes up his position as head doctor at a psychiatric clinic in Blida, Algeria. Racist colonial psychiatry dominates everyday life in the clinic. The French are housed separately from the Muslims, and the conditions in the Muslim unit are shocking: patients are restrained and tranquilised against their will. Fanon introduces a new approach, which includes group discussions and greater responsibilities for the nursing staff. He initiates a patient newspaper, a café, the site for a football pitch, and helps restore the mosque. He increasingly supports the clandestine Algerian resistance movement. This feature film by Abdenour Zahzah was made in Blida, and the episodes are given a charge by the committed performance of Alexandre Desane in the title role, and by the protagonists involved, including Fanon’s son Olivier, who plays a friend of his father’s. The project is based on conversations with those there at the time and the comprehensive research carried out for the documentary Frantz Fanon, mémoire d'asile (2002, Abdenour Zahzah, Bachir Ridouh), which is developed further here by means of fiction. (Madeleine Bernstorff)

Abdenour Zahzah was born in 1973 in Blida, Algeria. He pursued audiovisual studies at Algiers University from 1993 to 1997, then chaired the Bilda Cinematheque from 1998 to 2004. He is also a producer through his company, Atlas Film, based in Bilda.

Production Abdenour Zahzah. Production company Atlas Film Production (Blida, Algeria). Director Abdenour Zahzah. Screenplay Abdenour Zahzah. Cinematography Aurélien Py. Editing Abdenour Zahzah, Youcef Abba. Sound Frédéric Salles. Production design Maya Mancer. Costumes Asma Ben Naoum, Julia Didier. Make-up Karima Laouir, Linda Cherouati. Casting Wodjooh. Co-producer Thomas Ordonneau. Co-production Shellac. With Alexandre Desane, Gérard Dubouche, Nicolas Dromard, Omar Boulakirba, Amal Kateb, Catherine Boskowitz, Chahrazad Kracheni, Kader Affak.

Films: 2002: Frantz Fanon, mémoire d’aisle. 2007: Le Non-Faire, Maurice Pons, un écrivan de l’étrange / Maurice Pons, a writer of the strange. 2010: Gargouz. 2011: Andalucia. 2012: El Oued El Oued / The River. 2023: Pierre Clément, Cinéma & Revolution. 2024: Chroniques fidèles survenues au siècle dernier à l’hôpital psychiatrique Blida-Joinville, au temps où le Docteur Frantz Fanon était chef de la cinquième division entre 1953 et 1956 / True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in the Last Century, when Dr Frantz Fanon Was Head of the Fifth Ward between 1953 and 1956.

Bonus Material