Youcef Bouchouchi

Biography

Youcef Bouchouchi (يوسف بوشوشي), born November 25, 1939 in Kherrata (wilaya of Béjaïa) in Algeria, is an Algerian director, screenwriter, producer. He did his primary studies in El Kseur de Béjaïa, then joined the technical high school of Algiers until 1956, before joining, during the Algerian war of independence, the civil organization of the National Liberation Front within which he campaigned until 1962. At independence, he worked as a cameraman then a reporter for Algerian RadioTelevision (RTA). Youcef Bouchouchi is interested in theater, screenwriting but particularly in filmmaking. In 1963, he began his career with his film for the (RTA) The Heights of the Revolution, El Hidjra, and Salima and Salim. Then a series of films over the following years including: Present and Absent on a text by Kateb Yacine, The Debt Industry, Grand Tourism, Labor of Cleared Land, Les Grand Projets d'Arzew. In the early 1970s, he produced the Télé Ciné Club program, presented by Ahmed Bedjaoui. In 1971, he produced Pas De Blanc À La Une, Les Retrouvailles and a detective film Al 17, then Who is the culprit?. Later he would direct El Moulid En-Nabawi, Coutumes Et Traditions, Ould El Houma, Le Grand Sud and the comic and social series Fantazia. In 2000 he produced La Voisine with Biyouna. Then in collaboration with Ali Boukessanni, he made a series of documentaries on the ravines of Mostaganem. In 2001 he produced Les Dérives De La Justice by Leïla Aloui, in 2005 he directed Who Will You Protect?. He also directed the film Le Prix De La Liberté for the Algiers Capital of Arab Culture festival. Youcef Bouchouchi received a medal from the President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2003 in Oran. He died on July 28, 2017 following a long illness, he was buried in the Sidi Yahia cemetery in Algiers.