While researching for her project ‘Dreams Have No Titles’, the artist Zineb Sedira came across references of the 1964 film ‘Le mains libres’, a title that was often mentioned, but of which very little detailed information was available.

Throughout this process her interest grew, in particular because this was the first international Algerian production, together with France and Italy, and also the film had not been seen for 57 years.  

When a 35mm print showed up at AAMOD – Archivio Audiovisivo del Movimento Operaio e Democratico, Sedira was finally able to see ‘Les mains libres’. While watching, she discover, not only the newly created Algerian state in colour, a rare sight at the time, but also a multifaceted nation, away from the simplistic view created by the French press and army.

For the first time, it was possible to see footage sweeping the entire Algerian territory and witness the richness of the landscapes and the diversity of its traditions.

Using the aesthetic of militant cinema of the time, the film displays a rich array of archival material from the Algerian war: rarely-seen photos, footage, press clippings.

It is a political and militant testimony to the enduring traces of colonisation and of the talks to come once a country has newly gained freedom. It challenges us to think of the power of representation as a battlefield, ‘cinema as a weapon’ of decolonisation, in order to map out other paths to emancipation with and against images.

Zineb Sedira, whose practice has raised awareness of artistic expression and the contemporary experience in North Africa, and Émilie Goudal, whose research focus on the interpenetrations between art, history, politics and memorial issues in the context of decolonisation, come together for a conversation about the themes raised by the film.