Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina
Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina was an Algerian film director. In 1975 his Chronique des années de braise won the Palme d'or at Cannes, the first for a director from Africa and the Arab world. He was born on 26 February 1934 in M'Sila and died at his home in Algiers on 23 May 2025.
Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina was an Algerian film director. In 1975 his Chronique des années de braise won the Palme d'or at Cannes, the first for a director from Africa and the Arab world. He was born on 26 February 1934 in M'Sila and died at his home in Algiers on 23 May 2025.
He came from a family of farmers, and his father died during the war of independence. He went to secondary school in the south of France.
In 1958 he joined the Algerian resistance in Tunisia, and in 1959 he went to study film in Prague. With Djamel Chanderli he made short films for the provisional government, such as Yasmina (1961).
After independence he ran the Office des actualités algériennes, the national newsreel office, from 1963 to 1974. Le Vent des Aurès won the prize for a first work at Cannes in 1967, and Hassan Terro followed in 1968.
Lakhdar-Hamina returned to the Cannes competition with Vent de sable (1982) and La Dernière Image (1986). From 1981 to 1984 he headed ONCIC, the national cinema office, and his last feature, Crépuscule des ombres, came out in 2014.
Since 2024 the national film school in Koléa has carried his name. On the day of his death, a restored Chronique was shown at Cannes. He was buried at Sidi Yahia cemetery, and the festivals of Annaba, Carthage and Luxor paid tribute to him in 2025 and 2026.
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