Battle of Algiers

Battle of Algiers
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
(Italy, 1966, 121 minutes)

One of the most influential political films in history, The Battle of Algiers, by Gillo Pontecorvo, vividly re-creates a key year in the tumultuous Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés, and French soldiers resort to torture to break the will of the insurgents. Shot on the streets of Algiers in documentary style, the film is a case study in modern warfare, with its terrorist attacks and the brutal techniques used to combat them. Pontecorvo’s tour de force has astonishing relevance today.

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Architecture Center Houston is proud to present Revolutionary Architecture. A film festival that focuses on architecture, city, and space to spark a political discourse or change the development of the film’s political narrative. Buildings and space are inherently political, built by capitalism yet considered a universal right by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as adopted by the United Nations. Consistently, the largest issues of our time are shaped by the spaces we inhabit, whether by the space’s value as a social space or by its geographic significance, or by other political means. Just as revolution has opposing sides, design and space can be narrated from opposing views. This film program explores the paradigms of revolutionary space and architecture through a multitude of perspectives, with the hope to cultivate discussions of voice, authority, and subjectivity of revolution and change. The film festival runs from Thursday, September 1 through Sunday, September 4, with a opening reception on Thursday.