Moussa Haddad

Biography

Moussa Haddad (in Arabic: موسى حداد), born in 1937 in Algiers and died on September 17, 2019 in the same city, is an Algerian film director, screenwriter and producer. Moussa Haddad made his television debut at RTF. He was then assistant director to Italian director Gilo Pontecorvo on the film The Battle of Algiers released in 1966, and The Stranger by Luchino Visconti (1966), two films produced or co-produced by Casbah Films, the company created by Yacef Saâdi. He was also Enzo Peri's assistant on the film Three Pistols Against Caesar. In 1967, he joined Radiodiffusion Télévision Algérienne (RTA) and shot L'Inspecteur Mène L'Enquête (1967), already starring the character of L'inspecteur Tahar, Une cigarette pour Ali (1968), La Guerre des jeunes (1969), El Fidayoun (1971) and Sous le peuplier (Min Qurb As-Safsaf, 1972). This last film, about the difficulties of a peasant who wants to dig his own well, is Moussa Haddad's only known foray into rural Algeria, against the backdrop of the campaign for agrarian reform. He has also made numerous documentaries for the small screen and filmed the Jacques Brel concert in Zeralda. He is also considered the precursor of the hidden camera on Algerian television. He will direct and produce the first Algerian video clip, for a song by Boualem Chaker. Moussa Haddad's fame would spread beyond Algeria with the success of the film Inspector Tahar's Holiday (1972), which became a cult classic. Produced by the ONCIC for the big screen, the film starring Hadj Abderrahmane and Yahia Benmabrouk drew crowds and remains one of the biggest commercial successes in Algerian cinema. Away from the spotlight since Made In in 1998, the director returned behind the camera with Harraga Blues, a social drama about illegal immigration7. The film, presented in competition at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2012, tells the story of two friends, Zine and Rayane, who dream of reaching Spain in harragas (border burners), encounter difficulties before Zola's love for Zine finally decides otherwise. Harraga Blues would win the prize for best screenplay at the first Saïdia Film Festival. His film, Les Vacances de l'inspecteur Tahar is part of a set of 15 films digitized in 2016, including public successes from the 1970s such as Hassan Terro by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina or Omar Gatlato by Merzak Allouache. An influential filmmaker in Algerian and Arab cinema, Moussa Haddad died in Algiers on September 17, 2019.