Les Réfugiés (1957)

Cécile Decugis was invited in 1956 by René Vautier to work on his film Anneaux d'or, in the newly independent Tunisia. The film was not released for several years, in which time Cécile made and released The Refugees; a document of conditions in Tunisia during the war of independence. The Refugees shows the living conditions of Algerian refugees after the Morice line was built along the Algerian-Tunisian border. Its main focus is on women and children struggling to survive without resources. The film was released and shown in sympathetic Sweden, but in 1958, Decugis was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for renting her apartment to someone involved with the FLN. In 2007 Cécile found the soundless negative of The Refugees, and decided to remake the film. Recording new narration, she re-evaluated the 50 year old images. Re-titled La Distribution de Pain, the film was released in 2011 and screened at "The Algerian War, Images and Representations" festival at the Forum des Images in Paris (2012).