True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in the Last Century, when Dr Frantz Fanon Was Head of the Fifth Ward between 1953 and 1956 + Mist Melodies of Paris

True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in the Last Century, when Dr Frantz Fanon Was Head of the Fifth Ward between 1953 and 1956 (2024)
Dir. Abdenour Zahzah, 90min, DCP
With Alexandre Desane, Frantz Fanon, Gérard Dubouche
In Arabic & French with English subtitles

In 1953 colonized Algeria, a young Black psychiatrist from Martinique named Frantz Fanon is appointed head doctor at the Blida-Joinville Hospital. As he puts his theories of “institutional psychotherapy” into practice in opposition to the racist theories of the Algiers School of Psychiatry, a war breaks out on his own wards. Shot on location, director Abdenour Zahzah’s fiction debut links mental illness and imperialist violence by spotlighting one the 20th century’s greatest critical minds.

Preceded by:

Mist Melodies of Paris (1985)
Dir. Julius Amédée Laou, 24min
With Greg Germain, Christine Amat, Cyril Edouard
In French with English subtitles

A Black Caribbean man is haunted by the internal trauma and shame of fighting on behalf of the French government in Algeria in this intense look at the long-term effects of colonialism. This film was restored in 2K under the supervision of Julius-Amédée Laou from the original 35mm negative at LTC Patrimoine (Paris) in partnership with Jesse Pires (Lightbox Film Center, Philadelphia).