The First Man

The First Man

Le Premier Homme

"The First Man" is an adaptation of Albert Camus's unfinished autobiographical novel, which was discovered in the wreckage of his fatal automobile accident and published in France in 1994. It is a masterful meditation on Camus's sullen return to his hometown and childhood in Algeria. As well, the film paints a poignant, yet tragic, picture of the tumultuous racial relations between the French and Arabs in Algeria during the mid-'50s. Jacques Cormery has returned to Algeria after spending many years writing in France. Cormery's home coming is met with unease, as many nationalists believe he's no longer Algerian, but a French traitor. Cormery ignores the angry shouts and arrives at the home of his illiterate mother Catherine. She is gentle and immensely proud of her son. A series of startling and violent events trigger a string of memories for Jacques, and he casts his mind back to incidents from his boyhood.

About director:

Gianni Amelio (b. 1945 in San Pietro di Magisano, Calabria, Italy) spent his youth and adolescence with his mother and his grandmother. During his university studies of philosophy in Messina, he got interested in cinema, writing as film critic for a local magazine. In 1965 he moved to Rome, where he worked as operator and assistant director for Liliana Cavani and Vittorio De Seta. He also worked for television, directing documentaries and advertisements. His first important work is the TV film "La citta del sole" (1973).

Selected filmography: "Shoot in the Heart" (1982), "Open Doors" (1989), "The Stolen Children" (1992), "L'America" (1994), "The Way We Laughed" (1998), "The Keys to the House" (2004), "The Missing Star" (2006), "The First Man" (2011, "Kino pavasaris").