Yacef Saâdi

Yacef Saâdi

Yacef Saâdi (20 January 1928 – 10 September 2021) was an Algerian independence fighter, serving as a leader of the National Liberation Front during his country's war of independence. After the Algerian War, Yacef helped produce Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo's film The Battle of Algiers (1966), based on Souvenirs de la Bataille d'Alger. Yacef played a character modeled on his own experiences (named as Djafar) in the battle. He began his professional life as a baker's apprentice. In 1945 he joined the Algerian People's Party (PPA) which was succeeded by the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD) where he was active in the armed wing, the Special Organization between 1947 and 1949. He went to France after the dismantling of the OS and only returned to Algeria in 1952 where he resumed his work as a baker in the Casbah. In 1955, he joined the ranks of the FLN at the start of the war of independence then left for Switzerland for a liaison mission with Ben Bella. The Swiss authorities expelled him and he was arrested by the French police in Orly who transferred him to Algiers and imprisoned him. He was released in September 1955 on the condition that he inform the DST about the activities of the FLN in Algiers. He went underground and became the right-hand man of the leader of the FLN for the military zone of Algiers, Larbi Ben Mhidi. He became the FLN military leader of the autonomous zone of Algiers in May 1956 and replaced him in March 1957 after the death of Ben Mhidi, assassinated by General Aussaresses. On September 24, 1957, he was captured by French paratroopers and sentenced to death but finally released after the Evian Accords of March 18, 1962. Saâdi was pardoned by General de Gaulle, along with all those condemned to death in Algeria, in January 1959. He then benefited from amnesty in 1962. Close to Ben Bella, he founded a film production company, Casbah Films, which he financed with Algerian and Yugoslav capital. In 1962, he published Memories of the Battle of Algiers, his memoirs of the battle which he wrote during his incarceration. In July 1963, Yacef Saâdi was appointed by Ahmed Ben Bella president of the National Center for Friendship with Peoples (CNAP), intended to publicize abroad the achievements of Algerian socialism. In 1966, he co-produced with the Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo the famous film “The Battle of Algiers” in which he played himself. He was appointed president of the Algerian club USM Alger for three years, 1972-1975. On January 6, 2001, Saâdi was appointed senator by President Bouteflika out of the contingent of 29 appointments reserved for him. His mandate was not renewed by the President of the Republic in January 2016. According to the Algerian daily L'Expression, Yacef Saâdi was approached, in 2003, by the FBI and the CIA with the aim of drawing inspiration from his guerrilla warfare. urban from the time of the prestigious battle of Algiers to fight the Iraqi resistance. He refuses to collaborate.

  • Title: Yacef Saâdi
  • Popularity: 2.886
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1928-01-20
  • Place of Birth: Algiers, Algeria
  • Homepage: https://www.spla.pro/fr/fiche.personnes.spla.56360.html
  • Also Known As: Saadi Yacef, ياسف سعدي
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Yacef Saâdi Movies

  • 1966
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    The Battle of Algiers

    The Battle of Algiers

    7.892 1966 HD

    Tracing the struggle of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale to gain freedom from French colonial rule as seen through the eyes of Ali from his...

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  • 2004
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    Marxist Poetry: The Making of The Battle of Algiers

    Marxist Poetry: The Making of The Battle of Algiers

    7.2 2004 HD

    To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, we revisited our edit of the film and interviews with director Gillo Pontecorvo and...

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  • 2018
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    La Bataille d'Alger, l'empreinte

    La Bataille d'Alger, l'empreinte

    10 2018 HD

    Cheikh Djemaï looks back on the genesis of Gillo Pontecorvo’s feature film, The Battle of Algiers (1965). Through archive images, extracts...

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  • 2007
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    Terror's Advocate

    Terror's Advocate

    6.7 2007 HD

    A documentary on Jacques Vergès, the controversial lawyer and former Free French Forces guerrilla, exploring how Vergès assisted, from...

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  • 2007
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    Gillo of Ladies and Knights, of Loves and Arms

    Gillo of Ladies and Knights, of Loves and Arms

    10 2007 HD

    Pontecorvo is one of those Italian filmmakers marked for life by neorealism. He declares that he decided to do cinema after leaving a screening of...

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  • 2018
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    L'Histoire Du Film "La Bataille D'Alger"

    L'Histoire Du Film "La Bataille D'Alger"

    10 2018 HD

    More than fifty years after the release of the film “The Battle of Algiers” in theaters in June 1966, director Salim Aggar found, after a...

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  • 1966
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    The Battle of Algiers

    The Battle of Algiers

    7.892 1966 HD

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  • 1965
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    Les Mains Libres

    Les Mains Libres

    10 1965 HD

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  • 2022
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    C'était la guerre d'Algérie

    C'était la guerre d'Algérie

    8 2022 HD

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