Neil Beloufa is lead to a former hideout for terrorists in Algeria, where an era of terrorism is only documented through the verbal stories told by the people. The hideout is a deserted villa with glass facades that do not only show its inner space but also its residents, their life styles and their coming and going, in contradiction to the secrecy terrorists are obliged to surround their lives with. Beloufa goes to the villa and documents with photographic images the details of the inner space. He also records audio testimonies of descriptions of the villa’s former residents, told by their neighbours, servants and others. In a studio in Paris, Beloufa rebuilds the villa utilizing the pictures he has taken, and voice over of the recorded interviews over bodies of actors simulating the interviewed characters. We won’t see the actors’ faces as they walk in the constructed villa and point to the details of the terrorists’ lives. We will learn that the terrorists had always shaved their hair, worn ordinary clothes, and acted refined in appearance and conduct. At any case, we will never know how accurate these stories were. We, as well as Beloufa, have not seen the men whose descriptions we hear, but we get to imagine their character their hideout. In ‘Sans Titre’ (Untitled) (2010) Beloufa mixes reality with fiction, while documenting an important period in Algerian history, not only the time of terrorism but also post-terrorism and people’s perception of it.
This programme examines the acquisition of news gained by means of constructed space: Events and people appearing in the news are assimilated from bits and pieces of descriptions given by others. The Arab revolutions that broke out at the onset of 2011 have affirmed that the media pick and choose only what matches their policies for broadcasting. But with social media sites, “official” mass media no longer holds a monopoly over the news industry. Other interpretations of the events are now available. More importantly, we get our news today from texts and pictures posted by our friends on Facebook and Twitter. These virtual spaces, with their endless series of pictures and comments posted by friends, and friends of friends, may support or refute the “official” news transmitted on news channels, which go through several editing, commenting and presenting processes. So it remains to be the case that our knowledge of truth relies on a narrator’s story, just as we imagine stories of pure fiction.
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