Mohamed Zinet

Born in Algiers, Algeria in 1932. He was the assistant director to Ennio Lorenzini on Les Main libres (1964) and to Gillo Pontercorvo on La battaglia di Algeri / The Battle of Algiers (1966). Aside from working as an actor, he directed one film of his own, 1971’s Tahia ya Didou. The mayor of Algiers, who bore the production costs of the commissioned work, disapproved of the film, so it never went on general release. Today, it’s considered one of the masterpieces of Arab cinema. Mohamed Zinet died in 1995.

Berlinale