Octobre à Paris
7.3
On October 17, 1961, 30,000 Algerians demonstrated peacefully in Paris to protest the discriminatory curfew imposed upon them and to demand Algerian independence. Under the authority of the then Prefect of Police, Maurice Papon, the demonstration was brutally repressed, resulting in the deaths of dozens of Algerians. Historians cite eleven thousand arrests, dozens of murders, demonstrators thrown into the Seine, hundreds of expulsions, and just as many complaints that went unanswered; all for a night that would become a blind spot in the national narrative. No investigation, no trial, and certainly no commemoration. The day after the demonstration, Jacques Panijel began filming *October in Paris* to alert the public to the massacre that had just taken place in the streets of Paris. The film was banned by the French authorities. It obtained a distribution license in 1973. It was first shown in theaters in October 2011.
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Cast
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Jacques Panijel Director · Elie Kagan Cinematographer
First release May 1, 1962 · Produced in France · Languages Arabic, French
Production
Le Comité Maurice Audin
Production
France
Produced in
Languages
Original language
French
Spoken on screen
Arabic · French
Release dates
France · May 1, 1962
Premiere · Antibes
France · October 19, 2011
Theatrical
No release date listed for United States.
France
July 1, 1962 · Premiere · Studio Bertrand, Paris
September 24, 2011 · Premiere · Mediapart Film Festival
October 18, 2011 · Premiere · Forum des Images, Paris
October 21, 2026 · Limited theatrical
Italy
September 1, 1962 · Premiere · Venice International Film Festival
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