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Background information about algiers

There were also festivals that were in the planning but never materialized for lack of support. This is the case of a festival in Algiers. There was a brief announcement in the 1982 Brussels film festival catalog about a festival in the Algerian city of Tlecem (1982, 8). The festival, to take place in 1983, was going to be national and screen international films outside competition. In addition, the announcement explains, Algerian Super 8 filmmakers were going to create a National Federation of Algerian Super 8 cinema. Ahmed Zir, the person behind this effort, explains that “The Algerian state is making a great effort to facilitate materials to the amateur filmmakers” (1982 Brussels catalog, 8). Neither the help for Super 8 filmmakers nor the festival in Tlecem materialized. However, this did not mean the end of Algerian Super 8. Zir, who attended the Kelibia festival regularly, supplied films to the Federation. He attended Brussels in 1981, 1982 and 1983. The last time with a retrospective of Algerian films. Zir’s films were in Caracas in 1982 and 1985 and he was invited to a U.S tour. Toni Treadway and Bob Browsky, through their foundation, organized a tour of Federation Super 8 films and filmmakers that included Zir. Unfortunately, Zir was not granted a visa and could not attend. While Tlecem festivals did not materialized, Algerian films flowed through the Federation system.