5-7 November, all day, St John’s College, St John’s Street, Cambridge CB2 1TP
ICI London supports
“The Battle of Algiers at 60” International Conference
A conference organised by Luca Peretti with the support of Italian Section of the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics (Cambridge), Cambridge Intesa Sanpaolo Fund for Italian, CRASSH, the Society for French Studies, Cambridge Film & Screen, Association for the Study of Modern Italy, and St. John’s College (Cambridge). The conference is also part of the program of the ‘Global Revolution(s) in the Long 1960s: Seminar Series 2026-2027’ (University of Naples, L’Orientale)
2026 marks the 60th anniversary of the release of Gillo Pontecorvo’s La battaglia di Algeri (The Battle of Algiers), which was presented and won the main award at the Venice Film Festival in 1966. Possibly the most important political film of all times, the film was produced between Algeria and Italy and recounts the Algerian struggle for independence against French colonialism. Since its release the film has travelled through cultures and adapted to a variety of contexts: studied in university courses, screened in places as different as the meetings of the Black Panthers and the U.S. Pentagon, and routinely in film theatres and cinematheques, The Battle of Algiers is a classic of Algerian, Italian, and global cinema.
This conference aims to look at this important film from different angles, disciplines and points of view, analysing how The Battle of Algiers can be seen, interpreted, and discussed in the 21st century. The aim of the conference is not to glorify Pontecorvo’s film, but rather to analyse its contemporary resonance and the aspects for which it inevitably looks dated.
Full programme HERE
Free admission, registration required. More info and registration HERE
Image: Casbah of Algiers, December 2022. Credit Luca Peretti