TEHRAN-The cinematheque of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) will show “The Battle of Algiers,” a 1966 Italian-Algerian war film co-written and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, on Sunday.

The film screening, from the program dedicated to showing movies about resistance, is set to start at 3 p.m. Entry is free and open to the public, Mehr reported.

Pontecorvo’s film is based on action undertaken by rebels during the Algerian War (1954–1962) against the French government in North Africa, the most prominent being the eponymous Battle of Algiers, the capital of Algeria.

It was shot on location in a Roberto Rossellini-inspired newsreel style: in black and white with documentary-type editing to add to its sense of historical authenticity, with mostly non-professional actors who had lived through the real battle. The film's score was composed by Pontecorvo and Ennio Morricone.

The film concentrates mainly on revolutionary fighter Ali La Pointe between 1954 and 1957 when guerrilla fighters of the FLN went into Algiers. Their actions were met by French paratroopers attempting to regain territory. The theatrical film is about the organization of a guerrilla movement and the illegal methods, such as torture, used by the French to stop it. Algeria gained independence from the French, which Pontecorvo addresses in the film's epilogue.

It is often associated with Italian neorealist cinema and is considered one of the most significant political films ever made.

The film was met with international acclaim, and it is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. It won the Golden Lion at the 27th Venice Film Festival among other awards and nominations. It also was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. A subject of sociopolitical controversy in France, the film was not screened in the country for five years.

Insurgent groups and state authorities have considered it to be an important commentary on urban guerrilla warfare. In Sight and Sound's 2022 poll of the greatest films of all time, it ranked 45th on the critics' list and 22nd with directors.

In 2008, the film was included in the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage's 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978.

TMoCA is located next to Laleh Park on N. Karegar St. 

SS/SAB