Rabah Bouberras

Directing · Born January 1, 1950 · Algiers, Algeria

Rabah Bouberras (Arabic: رابح بوبراس), born in 1950, is an Algerian director and actor recognized for his commitment to national cinema as well as for his atypical career path, which illustrates the challenges facing the film industry in Algeria. He has lived in Montreal, Canada, for several years. Passionate about cinema since his teenage years, Rabah Bouberras attended the Algerian Cinematheque at the age of 16 and dreamed of becoming a director, even though there was no film school in his country yet. His early career began with a technical internship with Algerian television, obtained through a competitive examination, but he needed a diploma to advance. At that time, he managed to secure a scholarship to study at the Moscow State Higher School of Cinema (VGIK). He earned his director's diploma from the prestigious VGIK in Moscow, where he studied under A. M. Zgouridi in the same class as Alexander Sokurov. Back in Algeria, he directed three short films in the 1970s and, starting in 1982, a series of television films for Algerian Radio and Television. His first film was produced by ENPA. A true jack-of-all-trades, he easily transitions from documentary to fiction, from short to feature-length films, from drama to comedy. Wave After Wave, Sombréro, The Traveler and the Road, and Sahara Blues are among his best-known films among Algerian audiences and North African film fans. He also adapted Anton Chekhov's The End of an Actor and, for the stage, he staged Tchop in addition to a music hall show, Les Folies Berbères. His workshops on actor training, directing techniques and screenwriting were also particularly popular in Algiers.