Algerian Film Sparks Controversy for Shooting in Morocco, Stars Kad Merad

The film "Citizen of Honor", with the Franco-Algerian actor Kad Merad playing the role of an Algerian writer alongside Fatsah Bouyahmed, was released in theaters on Wednesday, September 14, 2022. The film tells the story of Samir Amin, a successful Algerian writer, Nobel Prize winner in literature who lived in France. His return to Algeria was perilous. "... The local authorities wish to award him the ’Citizen of Honor’ prize. But what happens once he arrives on the spot is different and far, very far from what the Nobel laureate hoped for. The atmosphere has become heavy with bureaucratic and political pressures. The writer finds himself trapped by the authorities and scandalized by the behavior of a manipulated people," summarizes the synopsis.

Citizen of Honor is a remake of the 2016 Argentine film of the same name by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat. It was entirely shot in Morocco, which is not to the liking of the Algerian authorities. They would have perceived this as a "blatant conspiracy of Morocco through art and cinema to further denigrate and degrade the image of Algeria in the world." On the web, the comments are flowing. The Algerian director Mohamed Hamidi is criticized for having chosen Morocco as the filming location.