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Alain Tasma

Alain Tasma

Directing

Biography

Alain Tasma, born February 26, 1959 in Tunis, is a French film director and screenwriter. In 1981, he began his career as assistant director to François Truffaut on Truffaut's film 'The Woman Next Door', followed by Godard's 'Passion' in 1982 and Barbet Schroeder's 'Tricheurs' in 1984. Alain Tasma then began writing screenplays and directing. Since the late 1980s, he has directed films and series for television, which have met with both public and critical acclaim. He has twice won the Grand Prix for TV Film at the Cognac Crime Film Festival: in 1994 for 'La Bavure' (The Slaughter) with Clovis Cornillac and in 1999 for 'Les Duettistes: Une Débête Mortel' (The Dummies: A Deadly Debt). Since then, Alain Tasma has addressed numerous current affairs in documentaries and fiction, such as ‘Mata Hari, la vraie histoire’ (2003), ‘Nuit noire, 17 octobre 1961’ (2005), ‘Harkis’ (2006) and ‘Opération turquoise’ (2007). He is also the author of an adaptation of Balzac’s ‘Rastignac ou les ambitious’, in which Father Goriot is played by Charles Aznavour. Interested in historical and social issues, he regularly works with historian and documentary filmmaker Patrick Rotman.

Known For

Dark Night, October 17, 1961
7.5

Parisian authorities clash with the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) in director Alain Tasma’s recounting of one of the darkest moments of the Algerian War of Independence. As the war wound to a close and violence persisted in the streets of Paris, the FLN and its supporters adopted the tactic of murdering French policemen in hopes of forcing a withdrawal. When French law enforcement retaliated by brutalizing Algerians and imposing a strict curfew, the FLN organizes a peaceful demonstration that drew over 11,000 supporters, resulting in an order from the Paris police chief to take brutal countermeasures. Told through the eyes of both French policemen as well as Algerian protestors, Tasma’s film attempts to get to the root of the tragedy by presenting both sides of the story.

Dark Night, October 17, 1961

2005Movie