Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, the pioneering Algerian filmmaker who became the first Arab and African director to win the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, has died at the age of 95.
His family confirmed he passed away peacefully at his home in Algiers. Lakhdar-Hamina secured his place in cinematic history in 1975 when his powerful historical drama Chronicle of the Years of Fire earned the top prize at Cannes. The film, which charts Algeria’s turbulent journey to independence through six evocative chapters spanning from 1939 to 1954, remains one of the most iconic portrayals of anti-colonial resistance in world cinema.
Born on February 26, 1930 (not 1934, as previously believed) in the mountainous Aures region of northeastern Algeria, Lakhdar-Hamina was raised by modest peasant parents on the high plains. His early education took him to an agricultural school and later to the southern French town of Antibes, just along the Mediterranean coast from Cannes, where he met his future wife. The couple went on to have four sons.
His personal history was deeply intertwined with Algeria’s fight for independence. During the war, his father was abducted, tortured, and killed by the French army. In 1958, Lakhdar-Hamina joined the Algerian resistance in Tunis. There, he discovered filmmaking, learning the craft on the job during an internship with Tunisian newsreels before directing short films.
He gained international recognition early in his career when his 1967 film The Winds of the Aures, which focused on the human cost of colonialism, won the Best First Work award at Cannes.
Over the years, Lakhdar-Hamina returned to the Cannes Film Festival four times, cementing his reputation as a central figure in post-colonial cinema. Until his death, he was the oldest living Palme d’Or laureate.
Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina leaves behind a legacy not only as a master storyteller but as a cultural icon who used cinema to illuminate Algeria’s painful yet proud history.
