The revolution started in the psych ward — and the doctor was armed with radical empathy.
1953, colonized Algeria. Fanon, a young black psychiatrist is appointed head doctor at the Blida-Joinville Hospital. He was putting his theories of ‘Institutional Psychotherapy’ into practice in opposition to the racist theories of the Algies School of Psychiatry, while a war broke out in his own wards.
Direction
Zahzah blends reenactment and archive with surgical precision.
Acting
Desane channels Fanon's intellectual charisma without hagiography.
Editing
Cuts between 1953 and present-day Algeria are devastating.
Director
Abdenour Zahzah
Alexandre Desane
Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon
Self (archive footage)
Gérard Dubouche
Dr. Ramée
Nicolas Dromard
The Hospital Director
Omar Boulakirba
Mr. Charef
Catherine Boskowitz
The Head Nurse
Amal Kateb
Juliette/Cléopâtre
Rachid Benallal
Nouï
Chahrazad Kracheni
Josie Fanon
Frédéric Restagno
The Police Commissioner
Nacereddine Djoudi
The FLN Activist Patient
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real Blida-Joinville Hospital was demolished in 2016; Zahzah shot interiors in a functioning psychiatric ward in Oran.
Fanon's 'Institutional Psychotherapy' directly inspired anti-psychiatry movements in 1960s France — patients as political subjects, not cases.
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