The SAS (Section Administrative Spécialisée) were created in 1956 by the French army during the Algerian war to pacify "the natives". During the day, the SAS were used as treatment centres and at night as torture centres, in order to crush the Algerian resistance. The SAS were inhabited by French soldiers and auxiliaries (harkis, goumiers) and their families. At independence in 1962, a few families of auxiliaries stayed on; the vacant buildings were occupied by families of martyrs awaiting the better days promised by the new Algeria. 46 years later, the SAS at Laperrine, in the Bouira region, still exists, a unique place inhabited by people who have taken refuge there. They have been joined by farmers fleeing the terrorism of the 90s. They all live as best they can in a place they did not choose, suffering the consequences of war.

In 1950, the explorer Roger Frison-Roche made a crossing of more than a thousand kilometers on the b...

These are the first images shot in the ALN maquis, camera in hand, at the end of 1956 and in 1957. T...

“La Zerda and the songs of oblivion” (1982) is one of only two films made by the Algerian novelist A...

The Desert Rocker is an intimate, witty and profound portrait of the extraordinary Hasna El Becharia...

"Gerboise bleue", the first French atomic test carried out on February 13, 1960 in the Algerian Saha...

This documentary by director Claire Billet and historian Christophe Lafaye details the massive and s...

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It's the unforgivable story of the two hundred thousands harkis, the Arabs who fought alongside the ...

More than fifty years after the release of the film “The Battle of Algiers” in theaters in June 1966...

Charles de Gaulle, the first president (1958-1969) of the Vth Republic, France’s current system of g...

In the 18th century, the Barbary threat became serious. In July 1785, two American boats were return...

Cheikh Djemaï looks back on the genesis of Gillo Pontecorvo’s feature film, The Battle of Algiers (1...

“La Voix du Peuple,” composed of archival photographs by René Vauthier and others, exposes the root ...

Between 1954-1962, one hundred to three hundred young French people refused to participate in the Al...

This excellent feature-length documentary - the story of the imperialist colonization of Africa - is...

Illustrated with archival photographs, animations and live action, this film explores the history an...

Albert Camus, who died 60 years ago, continues to inspire defenders of freedom and human rights acti...

Albert Camus died at 46 years old on January 4, 1960, two years after his Nobel Prize in literature....

Pierre Clément, student and photographer of René Vauthier, first accompanied him to Tunisia to make ...

This docu-fiction recounts the difficulties overcome by an ALN detachment whose perilous mission i...