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The Voices and Stories of Peoples Unite in Algeria

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Founded in 2002, the Algiers International Film Festival (AIFF)—known for 11 editions as the Festival of Committed Cinema (FICA)—has established itself as an unmissable event for lovers of the seventh art. With passion and perseverance, the festival has over the years built lasting bridges between Algerian filmmakers and creators from around the world.
 
It has offered audiences a unique journey through global cinema, where each screening, encounter, and debate has contributed to making the Algiers International Film Festival a true cultural crossroads—an arena of dialogue and a vibrant tribute to Algeria, its cinema, and world cinema. A space where film becomes a tool of memory, resistance, and shared imagination.
 
In its twelfth edition, the Algiers International Film Festival reinforces its role as a privileged space for cinemas of the Global South and reaffirms, more than ever, its mission as a platform for bold voices and creative expression. With 3,300 films submitted from 117 countries, the 2025 official selection reflects the vibrancy and international scope of cinema today: a cinema that speaks to the world in a universal language, resonating with a human sensitivity grounded in reality and open to cosmic horizons.
 
From the plains of Kazakhstan to the neighborhoods of South Africa, from the ruins of Baghdad to the deserts of Algeria, the official competition—feature films, short films, and documentaries—maps out a living human landscape, where each film becomes a voice of existence, a call for dialogue, and a pulse of hope.

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Message from the Festival Commissioner

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Cinema is much more than an art form.

It is a living language, born of vision and movement, created to transcend time and borders, to transform reality into story, to connect people through light and emotion.

It is a shared memory, a tool for transmission, reconciliation, and collective imagination.

At a time when narratives are fragmenting, and the world echoes with tensions and inequalities, the Algiers International Film Festival turns the spotlight back on what unites us: culture, speech, dignity, memory, and shared dreams.

Algiers, a Land of Cinema

From December 4 to 10, 2025, Algiers will become a vast screen open to the world.

A city gathering around images and ideas, nurturing encounter, dialogue, and living memory.

A city where cinema becomes a common language, a sensory experience, a social bond, a space of communion.

A Festival Inhabited by Stories, Identities, and Resistance

The 12ᵗʰ edition of the Festival will revolve around moving narratives, expressions of identity, and the cinemas of memory and life.

A program designed as a constellation of stories, perspectives, and forms.

Each film sheds light on a part of the world.

The Festival seeks to connect.

To build bridges between geographies and generations.

To give voice, awaken consciousness, and rekindle memory.

Through the big screen, it invites us to feel, reflect, engage, and explore.

To dream together.

Thank you to the filmmakers for carrying the light of cinema.

Thank you to the audience for welcoming this universe with curiosity, passion, and kindness.

Enjoy the screening. Keep thinking. Stay free through cinema.

And may the world continue to express itself, to dream, and to understand itself through the magic of the seventh art.

Hatim Mehdi Benaïssa
Commissioner, Algiers International Film Festival

Hello… and long live cinema!

Hello… and long live cinema!

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My role at the helm of this festival’s artistic direction is far from a mere logistical task or institutional duty. It is, above all, a clear and heartfelt return to the source of my first passion — to that deep conviction that cinema is not just a visual art, but a horizon for thought, a refuge for dreams, a language powerful enough to build bridges between people, across all distances and borders.

From Algiers to Nouakchott, through a journey shaped by academic and professional experiences in teaching, journalism, cultural policy, criticism, programming, and management, my path has intersected with cinema for over thirty years. I have embraced it as a subject of research, a space for critique, a tool for education and cultural advocacy, a platform for social transformation. And I’ve never stopped asking the fundamental question: how do we restore cinema to its rightful place as a vital force in building critical consciousness and a vibrant society?

From this starting point, we strive to ensure that the Algiers International Film Festival remains true to its original soul — deeply rooted in its city and its context, carrying both beauty and meaning. We envision it as a living space that celebrates stories and visions, a gathering place for filmmakers, critics, audiences, and dreamers — from Algeria and around the world — in a rhythm of questioning, joy, and discovery.

We invite you, from December 4 to 10, 2025, to join us for this twelfth edition: a living encounter, a shared journey, a celebration of what cinema offers at its highest — its power to connect people, places, and imaginations through a thread of love… in a renewed Algeria, wide open to the future.

Nabila Rezaïg
Artistic Director
Algiers International Film Festival

 

Biography – Nabila Rezaïg, artistic director of the festival

Biography Nabila Rezaïg, Artistic Director

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Nabila Rezaïg is a powerful and committed voice in Algerian cinema and culture. For over two decades, she has dedicated her pen, her insight, and her energy to cultural journalism, artistic management, and public service. A graduate in History from the University of Algiers (1994), she deepened her cultural engagement by earning a Master’s degree in Cultural Management from the University of Paris (2011), strengthening a career already rooted in hands-on experience.

She began as a history and geography teacher before stepping into the world of print media. Through her cultural columns in El Bilad, she quickly established herself as a singular voice with a sharp, insightful, and heartfelt perspective. Her passion for cinema soon became central, and her work appeared in leading Arab platforms such as Elaph, Sharit, and Cinematograph, where she championed a bold and humanistic vision of the seventh art.

Her commitment naturally extended to the festival world. She contributed to the organization of the Taghit Short Film Festival, and then joined the Oran Arab Film Festival, where she served as Artistic Director from 2010 to 2011. From 2012 to 2016, she represented Algeria at the country’s pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival and took part in international forums on the future of Arab cinema (Carthage, Cairo, Abu Dhabi, among others).

Her growing expertise led her to hold key roles within Algeria’s major cultural institutions. She served as communications officer at the National Office of Culture and Information, journalist for the national television’s online platform, and Head of the Cinema Department at the Algerian Agency for Cultural Outreach. In 2016, she joined the Ministry of Culture as Deputy Director for Artistic Creation Support, then acted as Central Director for Arts Development (2019–2021). In 2021, she was appointed Director of the Algerian Center for Cinema Development, entrusted with full budgetary authority.

Between 2019 and 2021, she also served as Vice-President of the National Council for Arts and Letters. Recognized for her expertise, she was selected by UNESCO as Algeria’s national expert for the drafting of the country’s first four-year report on the Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

Deeply rooted in the Arab and international film scene, she is regularly invited to serve on juries for prestigious festivals, including those in Jerusalem, Nouakchott, Ismailia, Malmö, and Lucania. Today, she heads the North Africa and Europe office of Cinematograph, a platform dedicated to film criticism and analysis. Through her ongoing editorial work, she continues to explore cinema not only as an art form but as a vehicle for awareness, a mirror of society, and a living archive of human history.

 

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Biography of Festival Commissioner

Biography Mehdi Hatim Benaïssa, Festival Commissioner

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Mehdi Benaïssa is a film producer and programmer with a rich international background. A graduate of La FEMIS in Paris (Production & Promotion, Class 9), he began his career in the United States with Fox Searchlight Studio before joining Arte France in Paris.

In 2011, he founded Akalim Production in Algiers and produced several notable cultural and cinematic projects, including the landmark documentary Algeria from Above directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Yazid Tizi, as well as Méditerranée, and the major 50th anniversary of Algeria’s independence exhibition, which drew over 80,000 visitors.

From 2016 to 2017, he served as director of the Algerian TV channel KBC. He currently works as a media and content advisor to the Algerian Ministries of Culture and Ministry of Communication, contributing to the development of national audio-visual policies.

In 2024, Mehdi Benaïssa was appointed as the Commissioner of the Algiers International Film Festival formerly the Algiers International Cinema Festival (FICA), There, he unfolds a bold and cinephile vision: to transform the festival into an open agora for Southern narratives — a space of dialogue between memory, identity, and creation, attentive to the upheavals of the contemporary world.

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Algiers International Film Festival – 12th Edition

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December 4–10, 2025 – Algiers

Founded in 2002, the Algiers International Film Festival (AIFF) has become, over its 11 editions, an essential gathering for lovers of the seventh art. With passion and determination, it has built lasting bridges between Algerian and international filmmakers, offering audiences a unique journey through cinematic works from all over the world.


Each screening, encounter, and debate has contributed to making the Algiers International Film Festival a cultural bridge between peoples, a space for dialogue, and a vibrant tribute to Algeria, its cinema, and world cinema. A place where film becomes a tool of memory, resistance, and shared imagination.

A multifaceted mission:

  1. Showcase Algerian talent by offering it an international platform;
  2. Encourage creation through residencies, masterclasses, and professional networking;
  3. Promote intercultural exchange by welcoming films and filmmakers from across the globe;
  4. Educate and engage audiences, especially youth and marginalized communities;
  5. Reward artistic innovation through a diverse range of awards and distinctions.

 

 

2025: A new edition, a renewed energy

The 12th edition embraces a renewed vision: to transform Algiers into a living film agora — a vast, open-air Super Ciné-Club — curious and accessible, where global narratives converge, resonate, and bring us together.

AIFF Program 2025:

In downtown Algiers, the Festival will unveil an eclectic program. The official competition will be structured into several categories: feature-length fiction, short films, and documentaries. Two new and unprecedented sections will debut this year: the Technical Competition and the non-competitive category “Knowledge & Science Films”, enriching this constellation of selected works and offering a broad, curious, and daring panorama of contemporary cinema.

Conceived as a space for knowledge-sharing and professional development, the Festival will also host Master classes, screenwriting residencies, critical panels, and a vibrant film market — Le Souk AIFF. 

This marketplace will serve as a dynamic crossroads for professionals, emerging talents, and cinema lovers alike — a highlight of the Festival that fosters dialogue, learning, and new creative opportunities.

 Highlights:

  • Guest of Honour: To be announced
  • Focus on Palestine
  • Spotlight on Algerian and African cinema, past and present

A committed team for a vibrant city with cinema

A new artistic and organizational team— passionate, rigorous, and deeply engaged with the city and its audience, leads this edition.
Under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and Arts, and in close collaboration with cultural institutions, the Municipality of Algiers, the Wilaya, economic partners, and civil society, AIFF 2025 celebrates cinema as a space for memory, and community.

See you from December 4 to 10, 2025 in Algiers
Call for films opens from July 10 to September 10, 2025
Call for Souk Projects opens from July 20 to August 20, 2025

Cinema connects us. Algiers is waiting for you.