Colonial Screen

Overview

Écran Colonial (Colonial Screen) is a documentary by Salim Aggar that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the visual history of French colonization in Algeria: propaganda through imagery. The result of three years of archival research, the film explores the operations of the Service Cinématographique des Armées (SCA—Military Film Service) and the Service de Diffusion Cinématographique (SDC—Film Distribution Service) during the period spanning from the 1940s until independence in 1962. Salim Aggar reveals how the colonial authorities used "cinema trucks" to screen films outdoors in the heart of Algerian villages—a tactic designed to manipulate public opinion, glorify the empire, and distort social and political realities, particularly following the outbreak of the War of National Liberation. Ultimately, however, this attempt at mass indoctrination proved a failure, as the Algerians turned this media weapon against its creators to assert their own narrative of liberation.