ALGERIA – rarefilmm | The Cave of Forgotten Films

AHDAT SANAWOVACH EL-DJAMR (1975)

Jon W. — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 13:17:25 +0000

Chronicle of the Years of Fire portrays Algeria’s struggle for independence from French colonial rule. The story follows a peasant’s migration from his drought-stricken village to his eventual participation with the Algerian resistance movement, just prior to the outbreak of the Algerian War of Independence.

Director: Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina. AKA Chronicle of the Years of Fire
Writers: Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina (story), Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina & Tewfik Fares & Rachid Boudjedra (scenario).
Stars: Yorgo Voyagis, Larbi Zekkal, Cheikh Nourredine, Hassan El-Hassani, Leila Shenna, Sid Ali Kouiret, Sissani, Abdelhalim Rais, Taha El Amiri, Yahia Benmabrouk, Keltoum, Hadj Smaine Mohamed Seghir, François Maistre, Jacques David, Jacques Richard, Henri Czarniak, Hassan El Amir, Brahim Hadjadj, Malik Lakhdar-Hamina, Tarek Lakhdar-Hamina, Merwan Lakhdar-Hamina, Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina.
Cinematographer: Marcello Gatti.
Composer: Philippe Arthuys.

1975 Cannes Film Festival – Winner of the Palme d’Or.

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ENCODE:
MP4 | 3.32 GB | 1353×576 | 24 FPS | 2500 kb/s | AAC 192 kb/s
Languages: Arabic | Subtitles: English (hard)

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⇒ DL via 1FICHIER
(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)

SOURCE FILE:
MKV | 7.56 GB | 1920×1080 | 24 FPS | 6000 kb/s | AAC 192 kb/s
Languages: Arabic | Subtitles: English, Greek (soft)

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RIP Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina (1934-2025)

AL-ASFOUR (1972)

Jon W. — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 20:00:02 +0000

Set during the 1967 Six Day War between Israel and the United Arab Republic this story of familial and national divisions has become one of Chahine’s most popular films in festivals and retrospectives. A young policeman’s adoptive father occupies a high post in the force, while his biological father is reputed to have been a left-wing activist. Raouf begins to search for those who might have known his real father, while his half-brother, stationed on the Sinai front, prepares for battle.

THE SPARROW was banned in May 1973, then received in December of the same year the country’s highest cultural award. More importantly, however, is that starting from THE SPARROW, Chahine departed from the conventional mainstream cinema of his time and developed his own individual style, hence emerging as a pioneer in this respect; instead of using a linear plot, he displayed a new liking for fragmented forms, discontinuous narratives, and random-seeming collages of disparate material such as flashbacks, actual events, associations and documentary sequences. The overall result of these shifts was the inception of a new phase in his films which was dedicated to experimentation and innovation.

Director: Youssef Chahine. AKA The Sparrow / العصفور
Writer: Youssef Chahine.
Stars: Salah Qabil, Ali El Sherif, Mahmoud Al Meleji, Seif Abdelrahman, Maryam Fakhruddin, Mohsena Tawfik, Habiba.
Cinematographer: Mustafa Imam.
Composer: Aly Ismail.

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Download in MP4 (Encoded w/Eng. hardsubs)

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OMAR GATLATO (1976)

Jon W. — Thu, 27 May 2021 10:54:40 +0000

Omar is a young and lively, rather macho Algerian who holds a good job in the Department of Frauds and lives in a crowded apartment with his sisters, his mother and grandparents. He loves to listen to Arabian and Indian music, to party with his friends, and to dream about women. A friend of his gives him a tape; when he listens to it, he is fascinated by the woman’s voice. That same friend arranges for him to meet the woman, who is totally different from what he had imagined on hearing her voice.

Director: Merzak Allouache.
Writer: Merzak Allouache.
Stars: Boualem Benani, Aziz Degga, Farida Guenaneche, Rabah Leghaa, Abdelkader Chaou, Krimo Baba Aïssa, Areski Nebti.
Cinematographer: Smaïl Lakhdar-Hamina.
Composer: Ahmed Malek.

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Note: Huge thanks to my friend Chris for the massive help he gave me with this film, there’s only 2 copies of this rare Algerian movie out there, the only one with English subtitles was an absolute pain to listen, the audio was really awful, I didn’t want to upload it like that so after doing some digging I found a French hardsubbed copy that had better audio so I thought hmm, maybe we could put the English audio on the French copy, that’s what Chris did after countless hours of working on it to make sure the English audio synched as best as possible, it is not by any means a perfect copy (there’s a jump at around 43:30 since the French copy had an extra scene not included in the English subbed version) but other than this it’s a very watchable copy, have in mind that it’s only been released on VHS. Thanks again Chris!

LO STRANIERO (1967)

Jon W. — Sat, 19 Oct 2019 12:02:40 +0000

——UPGRADED——

In this intense adaptation of the classic Albert Camus novel, Arthur Meursault is a bored clerical worker in 1930s Algeria who is completely isolated from his surroundings. His alienation leads to sudden, mystifying attacks of violence, and eventually culminates in his arbitrary shooting of a man on a beach. In the ensuing trial, the full extent of Meursault’s existential crisis becomes alarmingly clear to judge, jury and prosecutor.

Director: Luchino Visconti.
Writers: Albert Camus (novel), Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Georges Conchon & Luchino Visconti (screenplay)
Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Karina, Bernard Blier, Alfred Adam, Pierre Bertin, Angela Luce, Jacques Herlin, Mimmo Palmara, Jean-Pierre Zola, Joseph Marechal, Jacques Monod, Mohamed Cheritel, Vittorio Duse, Brahim Hadjadj.
Cinematographer: Giuseppe Rotunno.
Composer: Piero Piccioni.

1967 Venice Film Festival – Nominated for the Golden Lion.
1968 Golden Globes – Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

⇓ DOWNLOAD OPTIONS ⇓

ENCODE:
MP4 | 2.33 GB | 1332×720 | 23.976 FPS | 3000 kb/s | AAC 192 kb/s
Language: Italian | Subtitles: English (hard)

⇒ DL via GOFILE

⇒ DL via 1FICHIER
(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)

SOURCE FILE:
MKV | 7.93 GB | 1920×1036 | 23.976 FPS | 10,200 kb/s | FLAC 657 kb/s
Language: Italian | Subtitles: English, Czech, French, Spanish (soft)

⇒ DL via GOFILE

⇒ DL via 1FICHIER
(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)

((Upgraded with HD copies on November 18th, 2023.))