Ahmed Benaïssa, well-known both in theatre and the film world, died during the Cannes Film Festival. He was 78. He had been invited to Cannes for his work in Clément Cogitore’s film Goutte d’Or (Sons of Ramses) in which he played the character of Younes. The film is set in the multicultural district of Paris known as the Goutte d’Or, where children from Tangier disrupt the inhabitants…..and the business of a clairvoyant, Ramses.
Several tributes have been paid to Benaïssa. The Algerian Minister of Culture and Arts said in a statement: “He will leave an indelible mark on Algerian cinema and theatre.” On the social networks writer Kamel Daoud defined him as “a great actor, a man without hatred and with immense talent.” Daoud worked with Benaïssa on the film adaptation of his novel, Meursault contre enquête.
Born in 1944 in Algiers, Ahmed Benaïssa began his career in the 1960’s at the Algerian National Theatre. He continued his training in France before returning to Algeria. In 1971 he began a parallel career in films, with Etoile aux dents ou Poulou le magnifique. In 1977 he landed his second role in Leïla et les autres by Sid Ali Mazif, a film about workers organising a strike, it questions workers’ rights and their place in society. According to critic Khémais Khayati, this film marked a break with the Algerian cinema of the time by tackling the difficulties of life head-on.
In 1995 Benaïssa ran a regional theatre near Oran, the Sidi Bel Abbes. More recently he staged Kateb Yacine’s novel Nedjma in dialect and with a group of amateur actors. With nearly 120 films to his credit, Ahmed Benaïssa worked on such recent productions as Mounia Meddour’s Papicha and Arnaud Desplechin’s Les fantômes d’Ismaël.
Sources: Algérie Presse Service, France Info, Le Monde, L’Expression
