Cinema
Nahla
Farouk Beloufa · 1979
Synopsis
Beirut, January 1975, after the battle of Kfar Shouba. Larbi Nasri, a young Algerian journalist sent to cover the fighting, enters the circle of an adored singer, Nahla, her sister Maha, a journalist, and Hind, a Palestinian activist who takes him as far as the camps. One evening, in the middle of a performance, Nahla loses her voice. The city tips over around her, and Larbi no longer knows what he came to look for.
Context
The work took place in Beirut in 1978, on a text written with the novelist Rachid Boudjedra and the critic Mouny Berrah, who is not credited. Three months on the spot decided its author to start again from scratch. The Algiers production having refused to take on the risks, the crew was left to itself under fire: Roger Assaf's troupe played without being paid and Ziad Rahbani gave the music, before appearing in his own role. Jocelyne Saab made from it a document on the work in progress. Algerian television, which was producing, made little of it, and the work remained unobtainable for thirty-five years, until a video release in 2016.
Who it is for
One hundred and sixteen minutes, in Arabic and French. It is worth knowing that the songs are not translated, and that the story moves forward by ellipses, its only straight line being the real chronology of Beirut.
Prizes and reception
Yasmine Khlat won the acting prize in Moscow in 1979. The only full-length work completed by its author, it has become a reference of Arab cinema.