Algerian Palme d’Or winner Mohammed Lakhdar Hamina dies at 95

Mohammed Lakhdar Hamina, the first Arab and African filmmaker to win the Cannes Palme d’Or, has died at 95 in Algiers, his family confirmed, AFP reports. His 1975 film Chronicle of the Years of Fire, a sweeping account of Algeria’s anti-colonial struggle, earned him the festival’s top honor.

Born in M’sila, Algeria, in 1934, Hamina’s work was deeply shaped by the country’s war of independence. He joined the Algerian resistance in 1958 after his father was killed by French forces. His early film The Winds of the Aures won Cannes’ Best First Work in 1967.

Largely self-taught, Hamina rose to prominence as a cinematic voice of post-colonial Algeria. His Palme-winning film, structured in six chapters, remains a landmark of anti-colonial cinema.

He was the oldest living Palme d’Or laureate at the time of his death and is remembered as a pioneer in African and Arab filmmaking.