ABDLEKRIM AND THE RIF WAR

by Daniel CLING

50 minutes, 2010

Production : ISKRA, Cinemaat Productions, Real Productions, ARTE France, CRRAV Nord-Pas-de-Calais, CNC / France

The Rif War, from 1920 to 1926 in the depths of Morocco, put down a tribal rebellion led by Abdelkrim. Who remembers it? While the wars of Indochina, Vietnam and Algeria have been the subject of many written or filmed reminiscences, the Rif War was forgotten as soon as it was over, despite the involvement of several hundred thousand soldiers and despite being the only 20th century colonial war won by France. What demons does this page of history awake? The war set several trends: it was the first time the French colonial system was threatened by the indigenous people, it was also where barbarous acts of war which have now become commonplace were first used.

Daniel CLING was born in 1963. He studied at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, before doing a director’s course at the Anatoli Vassiliev School of Dramatic Art in Moscow and a Master II in art theory. Amongst his films are: “Heureux qui communiste” (2005, 60 minutes), “Il faudra raconter” (2004, 58 minutes), “L’attente des pères” (2002, 56 minutes), “Je ne suis pas un homme pressé” (2001, 52 minutes), and “Héritages” (1996, 56 minutes).