[ecr]

The film depicts the sacrifices and suffering of the Algerian people during the bloody events at Sakiet Sidi Youssef on February 8, 1958, when the blood of Algerians and Tunisians mingled during an odious bombardment by the colonial power.

Produced by the Algerian Centre for the Development of Cinema (CADC) to mark the sixtieth anniversary of independence, the preview of the 27-minute film "El-Sakia" was screened in the presence of young director Mehdi Tsabasset and scriptwriter Zoubida Maamria.

The film sheds light on an aspect of the human tragedy experienced by Algerian families who fled the oppression of the French colonial power towards the Algeria-Tunisia border, specifically the village of Sakiet Sidi Youssef, where they found themselves under bombardment from French planes that destroyed everything, sparing neither women nor children.

The massacres at Sakiet Sidi Youssef represent one of the key historical events of the Algerian Revolution, which highlighted the contribution of the people who supported the national cause, paying blood for their position, according to scriptwriter Maamria, who witnessed the massacres.

The cast includes well-known artistic figures, namely Sali Bennacer (in the role of the mujahida/war veteran), Djamel Aoun (French officer), Djedjiga Mekhmoukhen (the mujahid's wife), and Mabrouk Ferroudji.

The short film tells the story of a family based in Souk Ahras, whose members long to see their father again, who chose to join the ranks of the National Liberation Army (ALN), before crossing the Morice Line to Tunisia. Souk Ahras was, we are reminded, the eastern base for the passage of supplies, weapons and ammunition.

The final scenes of the film show aerial bombardments by the French colonial army, as Algerians and Tunisians went about their daily business and children attended school. Suddenly, all these people fall victim to the attack, and the blood of the innocent, young and old, flows to mingle.

For this film, the director used archive footage to show the total devastation of the Sakiet Sidi Youssef region.[/ecr]