True Chronicles of

Set in French-ruled Algeria in the 1950s, before he was renowned as one of the most influential thinkers and contributors to postcolonial philosophy, Frantz Fanon was a trained psychiatrist.

In his recently appointed position as head physician at the Blida-Joinville Hospital, a young Fanon witnesses the racist and Islamaphobic cruelty the hospital’s patients endured, becoming a formative experience in his own worldview. Depicting revolution in its micros and macros, his advocacy leads him to set up a café, a newspaper for patients, and community sports while the Algerian War of Independence brews outside the hospital walls. Filmed in the same hospital where Fanon once worked, the film explores this short but impactful chapter of his life using archival records and Fanon’s hospital diaries.

The film is accompanied by Zambizanga and Fanon’s Legacy.

Abdenour Zahzah is an Algerian screenwriter, director, and producer. He studied at the University of Algiers and he completed his first film, Frantz Fanon, Mémoire d’Asile, in 2002. He made several commissioned documentaries, including one for the 2nd Pan-African Cultural Festival in Algiers in 2009. His short fiction film Garagouz (2010) won several awards. After a feature-length documentary, L’Oued, L’Oued (2013) which won critical acclaim at festivals, he made his first feature-length fiction film in 2024, about Frantz Fanon’s time at the Blida-Joinville Psychiatric Hospital. Zahzah lives and works in Algiers.

The Caribbean Solidarity Network (CSN) is an organization committed to the principles of Caribbean Liberation and Unity across the region as well as throughout the Diaspora. CSN’s platform is one rooted in a feminist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonial struggle. The history of the Caribbean peoples has always been one of freedom and self-determination. CSN offers space for the Caribbean community and invested allies to foment ideas and build collective knowledge and understanding about present and local circumstances.

The Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) is a volunteer-run, non-profit organization dedicated to bringing Palestinian cinema, music, cuisine and art to GTA audiences. TPFF was conceived in 2008 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Al-Nakba.

The University of Toronto New College’s Community Engaged Learning is a placement-based program for students to work in social service or community sector.

Caribbean Studies at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary program engaging Caribbean history and society, politics and economic development, literature and thought.