Algiers, a city of cinema, memory, and struggle. Since its inception, the Algiers International Film Festival has followed a unique path: that of liberating images, works that tell the stories of peoples, and voices that refuse to be silenced. More than just a cinematic event, this festival is a space for awakening. Here, films do not merely move us; they provoke, awaken, and weave connections between past and present, between memory and commitment.
Born in a capital that, in the heart of the 1970s, was a hub of militant cinema and universal solidarity, today’s festival carries that same flame in a world searching for meaning. It celebrates the power of cinema as a language of resistance and transmission–an art that bears witness, that heals, and that connects. Through its programming, the Algiers International Film Festival honors filmmakers who champion just causes: those of struggling peoples, erased memories, and women and men fighting for human dignity. But it also celebrates creators who invent new forms, who challenge representation, and who dare to speak differently.
This year, the festival is deeply honored to welcome Cuba as its guest of honor. This choice is no coincidence: it celebrates a historic brotherhood between two peoples united by shared ideals of freedom, sovereignty, and social justice. Cuban cinema, both poetic and political, has always carried the voice of the oppressed and celebrated the dignity of the Global South. Through a selection of emblematic works and unique encounters, this Cuban presence reminds us that artistic commitment transcends borders, and that cultural solidarity remains a universal language.
Here, memory is not nostalgia: it is a living force, a lever for the future. By revisiting the luminous and painful chapters of our history, the festival invites us to reflect on today’s world through the eyes of artists who refuse resignation. This edition is a tribute to the persistence of images–those that accompanied revolutions, independences, and rebirths. And those, more fragile, that continue to bear witness in the shadows, so that truth, justice, and freedom remain at the heart of cinema.
Mehdi Benaissa
Commissioner of the Algiers International Film Festival
