The True Chronicle from the Last Century at the Blida-Joinville Psychiatric Hospital When Dr. Frantz Fanon was Head of the Fifth Ward, Between 1953 and 1956 (Chroniques fidèles survenues au siècle dernier à l'hôpital psychiatrique Blida-Joinville, au temps où le Docteur Frantz Fanon était chef de la cinquième division entre 1953 et 1956)
Abdenour Zahzah, 2024, Drama, 90 min.
In French and Arabic with English Subtitles
US Premiere | Q&A with Director Abdenour Zahzah, Madeleine Dobie, and Camille Robcis

Set in 1953 at a psychiatric clinic in Blida, Algeria, and shot on location, the film follows Frantz Fanon (Alexandre Desane), a young black psychiatrist, as he is appointed head doctor. A student of Francesc Tosquelles, Fanon challenges the inhumane, racist, colonial psychiatry of the clinic and replaces them with methods that allow patients to reclaim their individual identities and sense of agency and break down established barriers between doctors and patients, and between Christians and Muslims. An illuminating portrait of the critical early work of a physician, renowned politician, and decolonial activist.

Watch the trailer.

Speakers

Abdenour Zahzah is an Algerian screenwriter, director and producer. After studying at the University of Algiers, he worked as a programmer at the Blida Cinémathèque between 1997 and 2004. He completed his first documentary film, Frantz Fanon, Mémoire d’Asile in 2002. After that, he traveled to France, where he made two documentary films, and spent a long time at the Moulin d’Andé in Normandy, where he made a film with the writer Maurice Pons. Returning to Algeria in 2007, he made several commissioned documentaries. But it was with his short fiction film Garagouz, a multi-award-winning film, that he made a name for himself. After a feature-length documentary, L’Oued, L’Oued, which won critical acclaim at festivals, he directed his first feature film in 2024, about Dr. Frantz Fanon’s time spent in Blida-Joinville.

Madeleine Dobie is a Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

Camille Robcis is a Professor of French and History at Columbia University.

This film screening is presented as part of the Columbia University Maison Française 2024 Film Festival, CINEMA/CARE. The Festival is produced and presented by the Columbia Maison Française and curated by Fanny Guex, and Shanny Peer, and Eva Martin. The full festival program can be found here.