France, Algeria and the Moving Image

In the contemporary political sphere, the need to address the complex interactions between colonial pasts, present day violence, and audio-visual representation has never appeared more urgent. This is particularly true of France's troubled relationship with Algeria where, even after decolonization, episodes of violence - police repression, torture, and terrorism - were often excluded from popular, political and historical accounts on both sides of the Mediterranean. By engaging in close readings of work by both European and Algerian filmmakers - including Michael Haneke, Alain Resnais, Assia Djebar, Xavier Beauvois, and Nadir Mokneche - Maria Flood's wide-ranging study links historical and memorial omission to film techniques that emphasize gaps, spaces, and exclusion, ultimately offering conclusions that inform wider thinking of the ethics of cinema in the face of violence.