
Allel Yahiaoui
Camera
Biography
Allel Yahiaoui (en arabic : علال يحياوي) is a director of Algerian photography and director, born in 1943 in Algiers. He distinguished himself in Algerian cinema by participating in numerous films and series, mainly as managers (director of photography), but also as a director. He is recognized for his significant contribution to the visual aesthetics of Algerian cinema, collaborating on works that testify to the history and society of his country. Among his best known works are: a people in Marche (1963), the Empire of Dreams (1983), Nass Mlah City (2002), a popular television series in Algeria. He also worked on films such as the trip to Algiers, Morituri, Gourbi Palace, Hamlet of Women, La Danse du Feu, and Youcef or La Légende ... Allel Yahiaoui died on May 10, 2025.
Known For

El Kalaa, a village in southern Oran. Although already married, old Sidi planned to marry another. He sets his sights on the beautiful Aïssa, with whom Kaddour, his adopted son, is in love. The old man decides to play a trick on Kaddour to teach him never to covet a woman that an elder wants to marry...
The Citadel

A drama set a little before the 1920s, in which scattered news, stories and rumors spread the presence of a new wealth, oil, leading to the suspicion that a great change was about to take place.
Sons of the Earth

Chants d’Automne (Song of Autumn), is a story of daily life on a colonial farm, at the start of the war of liberation in Algeria, describing individual and group behavior in this context. An unthinkable, even dangerous, romantic relationship, born in this context between Catherine, daughter of a settler, and Abdelmalek, son of a blacksmith. Managing his vast property in a feudal manner, Monsieur Marcel whose only ambition is his personal enrichment to the detriment of the community. Everyone fears his authority except his daughter Catherine, a student in France, who returns home during the holidays. She does not stop herself from expressing to him her ideas of justice which go against family and colonial practices. Catherine and Abdelmalek's romance makes relationships increasingly strained, but the call for freedom will be stronger than a woman's love.
Song of Autumn

After the battle of Kfar Chouba in Lebanon in January 1975, Larbi Nasri, a young Algerian journalist, was caught in the whirlwind of events preceding the civil war. Linked to Maha, Hind, Raouf and Michel who surround Nahla, he witnesses the construction of the myth of Nahla, a singer adored by the Arab population. One day Nahla loses her voice on stage. The atmosphere of crisis that reigns around her is spreading like an infection. Larbi, fascinated, loses his footing and gets bogged down.
Nahla

At a dangerous time in Algeria, 'Douar de Femmes' is a story of ordinary women who manage to defend themselves in extraordinary situations. The film focuses on a small village that has been attacked more often by terrorists from the surrounding mountains. While the men work, the women learn how to handle machine guns and explore the area. “Fear has armed us,” says the young woman Sabrina. But despite that fear, people get married, children come and keep watch.
Douar de Femmes

Moussa, a young Franco-Algerian, returns to Algeria, but adapting to life in his country of origin proves difficult. Just as he is about to leave for France, he is called up for military service, which suits him fine because he is secretly in love with the beautiful Nacira.
Moussa's Wedding

In 1962, René Vautier, together with some Algerian friends, organised the audio-visual formation centre Ben Aknoun to encourage a "dialogue in images" between the two factions. Together with his students he made a film that shows the history of the Algerian War and of the ALN (National Liberation Army), and life during the reconstruction.
A People on the March

In Algeria, Youcef escapes from a psychiatric asylum located at the edge of the desert. He was a fighter and, years later, he still believes himself to be a prisoner of the French army. He rejoins what he thinks is his resistance group. He finds the bones of his comrades, buries them, and promises himself that he will visit their families, one after the other, to honor their memory. He goes underground and makes quick forays into the villages. He is struck by what he sees there. Young people queuing for bread, former FLN leaders living in the villas of the colonists, and farm workers mistreated by their Algerian foremen. As for the women, although they played a decisive role in the liberation of the country, they are now cloistered or forced to go out in public wearing masks. When he is discovered by the authorities, Youcef cannot believe that thirty years have passed. This nuisance must be eliminated...
Youssef: The Legend of the Seventh Sleeper

The story of Hassan, the handyman in the inn of his sister Aïcha, widowed and childless. A whole series of incidents, misunderstandings, will punctuate his daily routine in which we find him in turn driver, waiter, welder, etc. But, he refuses to submit to anything that does not conform to the idea he has of society and things...
Hassan Niya

Years after Algeria gained independence, war continues to claim lives in Soulima, a border village surrounded by mines, whose victims are too numerous to count. Despite all these deaths, the inhabitants remain rooted in their ancestral land. Among them stands out the noble figure of Zohra, who seems to be the soul of the village...
Harvest of Steel

A poor man rescues a rich man from burglars. as a way for thanking him The rich guy invite him and his family to come and live in his luxurious hotel. The poor family's life turns upside down in their new home.
Gourbi Palace

Two deaf and dumb children. She is the daughter of an American Oil engineer. He is the son of an Algerian farmer. They meet and manage to communicate, transcending all the cultural barriers that separate them.
Tale of an Encounter

When the War of Independence ends, a widow must find a roof for her six children. Luckily, a Frenchman about to leave offers her the house he is about to vacate. But a high-placed local bureaucrat does not agree to such a gift. After losing all hope of obtaining the property due to the bias of the local authorities, she decides to go to the capital with her children to speak to the president of the Republic.
The Trip To Algiers

A stubborn director who wants to rediscover the Algiers of his childhood comes up against the “Hollywood” fantasies of his characters, non-professionals all hoping to be able to become “someone else”, at least for the duration of a film… Mise en abyme for a journey into megalomania…
The Empire of Dreams

Portrait of Si Mohand U M'hand, an Algerian Amazigh poet from the end of the last century, whose tragic destiny was marked by wandering and revolt. Refusing all compromise, he lived in insubordination to the new order imposed by the French colonial presence in Algeria.
Si Mohand u M'hand, l'insoumis

Four short films covering the Algerian War, directed by three filmmakers, each telling a different story: The Maquis, The Rebel, The Rifle, and The Notebook of a Maquisard.
We Shall Go onto the Mountain

Jocelyne Saab, a young Lebanese journalist and director, interviews the director and the film crew while filming Nahla in Beirut.
Making of Nahla
Azzedine, a young student, is a child of the working-class neighborhoods of Algiers. Francine, is a young French woman born in Algiers and belonging to the bourgeoisie. To preserve his chances of being loved by her, Azzedine pretends to be an heir to a great family and calls himself Bruno. Until the day the deception is discovered…