Zanj Revolution
The Algerian filmmaker Tariq Teguia is not very known for the Montreal audiences. His films were recently reviewed by the author Marie-Claude Loiselle in her book Des forêts du cinéma (Somme toute, 2022). We are taking advantage of this favourable editorial context to highlight Teguia's three main films, whose subjects matter are marked by the history of the Arab world and the recent Arab Springs.
Ibn Battuta is a journalist working for an Algerian newspaper. While covering communal clashes in southern Algeria, he stumbles upon past uprisings against the Abbasid caliphate in 8th and 9th century Iraq. To further his investigation, he heads to Beirut, a city that once represented the hopes and struggles of the Arab world.
Tariq Teguia
Born in Algiers in 1966, Tariq Teguia studied philosophy and visual arts before beginning a career in photography. He taught contemporary art at the School of Fine Arts in Algiers and made his first short films in the 1990s, addressing the ills of Algerian youth. In 2006, he signed his first feature film, Rome Rather Than You, which was noticed in international festivals. The two films that followed, Inland in 2008 and Zanj Revolution in 2013, shot as the Arab Spring was emerging, confirmed him as a key figure in contemporary Algerian cinema.
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