01/09/2006

While Indigènes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean Bréhat
interview: Rachid Bouchareb
film profile], which won his actors a collective award at the latest Cannes Film Festival, will be released on September 27 in France, French director-producer Rachid Bouchareb is already at work on two new projects.

The film will be on renowned Jamaican musician Bob Marley. "He is known throughout the world, the first star from the Third World. I’m interested in his political views and what he wanted to give and share with Africa", the director told Cineuropa. "His music is still being sold, so I don’t think there will be any complications as far as financing is concerned. The difficulty will lie in writing a beautiful story, with the right political weight, and not simply a musical film, as some US directors have done, and continue to do, in the tendency to circumvent the subject."

Bouchareb will then take on the sequel to Indigènes with the same actors who appeared in the first film (Jamel Debbouze, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila, Samy Nacéri and Bernard Blancan).

"The stories that I collected with Olivier Lorelle, my co-screenwriter on Indigènes, date back to WWII and the wars in Indochina and Algeria. Some of the people even participated in all three wars. I will then open the chapter on Indochina, which involved over 100,000 men from the colonies, then take on Algeria, explaining why this last war began in 1954. I will present the causes that led to the creation of the independence movements in Africa, in the Maghreb and, above all, in Algeria. The starting point will be WWII and the liberation of Europe, a delicate moment for all those men (including future Algerian president Ahmed Ben Bella) who, upon returning to their country, saw that promises made before the war were not kept. The film will begin in May, 1945, with the Setif massacres, and end in November, 1954, covering, along the way, Indochina and the collapse of the French."

Bouchareb will produce these two films through 3B Productions, which he runs with Jean Bréhat and Muriel Merlin. Cineuropa will dedicate a Focus to Indigènes on the occasion of its theatrical release in France.

(Translated from French)