Cinema press officer, it is with his new director’s hat that Hassan Guerrar arrived at the Angoulême Festival (August 27-September 1, 2024). His first film Barbès, little Algeria, one of the ten films in the running for the Valois Diamond, tells the story of Malek who reconnects with his Algerian roots in Barbès where he has just moved.
Franceinfo Culture: What sparked this desire to make films?
Hassan Guerrar: I don’t know if I really felt the urge, but I got caught up in it. I decided to make this film during Covid. Audrey Diwan [réalisatrice et scénariste] pushed me to write with her. We made a first version and we had the support of the Ile-de-France region. And that’s how the adventure began.
You zoom in on the Algerians of a famous multicultural neighborhood in the 18th arrondissement of Paris where we also find Indians or nationals of several African countries. Why a fiction on Barbès?
Because I take the first part of Barbès. I don’t go any higher. It is both the most well-known and the least well-known district of the capital. We have a false image of it. It is the subject of many preconceptions. I would be happy if they changed: I announce to you that I am becoming Mohamed Poulain of Barbès (broad smile). In this film, I wanted to show that these people, who are struggling, still have a joy of living, this solidarity that I have known. When I talk about volunteering in the film, it is a path I took during the first lockdown [lié au Covid et qui a démarré le 18 mars 2020]The pandemic made us lose our bearings but it allowed us to find others.
“Barbès, little Algeria” starts off in a kind of lightness and becomes more and more serious on a multitude of subjects…
I’m going about it very lightly, but there is a question that is asked in this film. How can these illegal immigrants, who have hands of gold, who arrive in Europe and find freedom, not work? At least in a way other than in markets, cafes, or dealing or stealing… They are then sent back home and they come back three months later. What do we do? This is a question that I ask. It’s important and there is something even more important, namely this story of volunteering. It’s something that I do. The women who play in the film are my real-life counterparts. I hope that the spectators will notice: we stuck a QR Code on the credits of the feature film. The film will allow us to recover a little money to be able to continue the food distributions.
You talk about this bad image but to evoke it, you take the opposite view because we enter Barbès with this young Franco-Algerian entrepreneur that is Malek…
I first wanted to pay tribute to dual nationals. Malek, played by Sofiane (Zermani) who is of a rare power, decides to go to a butcher’s shop. There he meets by chance a person who knows his family with whom he has a problem. Malek is a beur: in France, he is a real Frenchman and in Algeria, he is a real Algerian. I think that there has not yet been a film about a real Algerian dual national, modern, elegant, educated… What Malek is, the character, and Fianso [nom de scène de Sofiane Zermani] who embodies it. He is someone extremely elegant in his posture, by his beauty. He is brilliant.
Your complicity with Sofiane Zermani is obvious. Why did he become your Malek?
I had seen it in the series The Savages in a role that could have stuck to his skin, that of a small-time crook, but he gave it another color. I also discovered in a video that he had an intense look in which you can feel a crack. I was interested in going to look for that.
By returning to settle in Barbès, Malek rediscovers a socio-cultural universe that is familiar to him but which was no longer part of his daily life…
It’s something he has inside him, but it’s not buried. He knows, for example, religion but not as well as the people of Barbès who will teach him things. Malek observes his Ramadan, perhaps doesn’t say his prayers but he is a believer.
Is there a lot of you in Malek’s character?
Yes (he nods).
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Discovering your film which deals with dual nationals while they were singled out by the extreme right during the last legislative elections is intriguing. Your project dates back several years but is relevant to current events. What did you think of all that?
I delivered the film on March 10, 2024, before the elections. When I started hearing “The binationals…”, I thought it was funny. I had already taken the opposite view. Therefore, nothing surprised me. And above all, I myself am a binational.
How do you experience this dual nationality?
There is a big problem with dual nationality. Where we live, whether in France, Germany, anywhere, we are not at home. And when we return to Algeria, where our origins are, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia… we are not at home. I could almost have made a film and dedicated it to the citizens of the world.
“Barbès, little Algeria” evokes dual nationality, but also the fact of living together with different beliefs. There is a superb prayer scene near the Sacred Heart that is worth a thousand speeches on the subject…
It is very important to me. The shot begins with the Sacré-Cœur and the bells, then the camera goes down to the three Muslims. It is just to explain that we must stop these religious wars. Jews, Muslims and Christians belong to three religions whose sacred texts – the Bible, which I have not read, but which I know a little, the Talmud and the Koran – say the same thing with different words.
The film offers a great cast of characters. How did you choose the other actors? ?
Khaled (Benaïssa who plays the colorful Prefecture), I cast him three years ago when I started writing. He is a very well-known actor in Algeria. I knew he would bring me back the most that I had been asked to remove from the script. I met Adila (Bendimerad) on The Last Queen [qu’elle a co-réalisé et dans lequel elle tient le premier rôle], film that I was defending. She is exactly the woman I wanted to embody this café owner, a strong woman who holds the men. When there is a fight, she is the only one who intervenes because no one touches her. It is my way of paying tribute to women. I find her sublimely intelligent and beautiful. Just like Eye Haïdara. I am very proud to have worked with her because, for the first time, I am happy to show a black African woman who is just as she is in life: intelligent, beautiful, cultured, sweet, with a real job. And she is binational.
You are a film press officer. What did you not know that you learned by going behind the camera?
I continue to be a press officer and I love my job. I discovered all the aspects of directing. I was given schedules, I went there and I didn’t know what it was about. I improvised everything from the first to the last day. I discovered the steps and I learned everything as I went along. I didn’t realize it while making the film. I’m a fairly uninhibited person and my job as a press officer helped me a lot. I went very quickly on the set: is there a problem? I had the solution right away. And I discovered post-production, which I loved. I knew a little about image editing because I edited films but not the sound part. Anecdote: I thought I had an appointment with a sound guy but… there were three of them. I had the best technical team in the world: the director of photography Amine Berrada who is one of the greatest today. On the sound, I had the very experienced Philippe Welsh who helped me a lot. I had a script supervisor who was constantly behind me to help me.
A tricky question. You are Hassan Guerrar and you know a lot of people in the film industry. It’s easier to make your first film, isn’t it?
When you’re Hassan Guerrar, it’s the worst thing. I’m not treated like the others. Afterwards, I was lucky to have a script that was very popular and I don’t think anyone has ever seen a film like that. At least that’s what people tell me. That’s how I got the advance on receipts (from the National Center for Cinema and the Animated Image). But the fact of being called Tartempion and being known in the industry works against us. I had a lot of trouble financing the project.
You are in Angoulême, a festival that has established itself as a must-see for French cinema. How do you find the public’s reception of the film?
I am quite overwhelmed to see the audience giving me standing ovations. I absolutely did not expect that. I think I have never received as much love in my life as at this festival. It is even too much. It is a festival that only sends you love. I am very proud to be here. I have known this festival for 17 years. I know Besnehard [Dominique, cofondateur du Festival avec Marie-France Brière] for almost 40 years. I was very touched that he liked the film and took it.
The film is released in France in October. Is an Algerian release planned?
It will also be released in Algeria.
Gender : comedy drama
Director: Hassan Guerrar
Actors: Sofiane Zermani, Khalil Gharbia, Khaled Benaïssa, Adila Bendimerad, Eye Haïdara and Clotilde Courau
Country : France
Duration : 1h33
Exit : October 16, 2024