Tahar Hannache (in Arabic: طاهر حناش), whose real name is Tahar Ben Kouider Belhannache, is an Algerian actor, director, director of photography and screenwriter, born on November 26, 1898 in Constantine.

His real name is Tahar Ben Kouider Belhannache, he was born on November 26, 1898 in Constantine in a family of notables and wealthy landowners.

Since his youngest age, outside of his studies at the Sidi Djellis school in Constantine, Tahar Hannache has been interested in the arts, mechanics in general: that of the automobile, the railway, boats, and modern inventors.

One day, he sees the first movie theater arrive. It was around 1908-1909. The theater was called "Cinema Numez". The young man, intrigued and driven by curiosity, ended up asking questions to the workers: it was indeed a movie theater!

From then on, every time he left school, there was a rush to this theater. The first show he watched was "The Adventures of Zigomar", a comedy film with the great Max Linder.

In 1921, after his military service, armed with a certificate of good conduct and morals, Tahar landed in France, at Gare de Lyon, in Paris, with in his pocket… 1 louis d'or.

One day in 1922, while wandering not far from the Parisian film studios, he came across a stage manager who was looking for extras. At the time, it was to make "L'Atlantide" by Pierre Benoit. The stage manager hired Tahar Hannache for his first role and it was the starting point for a very fine film career. He appeared in "Les fils du soleil", "Fanfan la tulipe", "Les misérables"...

After his participation in the filming of "L'Atlantide", under the direction of Rex Ingram, then of "Yasmina", by André Hugon, whom Tahar helped thanks to his knowledge of Arab customs and traditions, Max Rieux took him on as assistant cameraman and stage manager for the filming of "La grande Amie", "J'ai le noir" and "La cousinette". Pierre Colombier and Diamant-Berger also asked him to take on the same jobs in "Le Transatlantique" and "Education de prince". With Jacques Mills, he completed "Les Sables mouvants", a silent film in which he was both an actor and an assistant.

In 1928, he collaborated on the talking film, "Chiqué", and moved on to the series "Legy et Cie", "Maurin des Maures", "L'illustre Marin" ...

In 1934, Tahar Hannache was appointed cameraman. He then shot "Sarrati le terrible" by André Hugon in Algiers, with Harry Baur, Georges Rigaud and Rachid Ksentini.

In 1940, he shot with Marcel Pagnol "La fille du puisatier" interpreted by Fernandel and Raimu. Then "La Vénus aveugle" with Viviane Romance where he succeeded in very beautiful images. Because Tahar Hannache had settled down definitively. He was no longer an actor, it was now as a technician that he took on the seventh art. He was a camera operator.

He shot with Julien Duvivier "La bandera" with Jean Gabin, Annabella and Jean Renoir as main actors. He then worked with Abel Gance and was one of the first operators to work on Gevacolor for the exteriors of the film "Corniche d'amour".

In 1942, he directed the shots of the first Arabic talking film "Ali, fils du Sud", starring Réda Caire and Leila Fouad. Blocked in North Africa by the Allied landings, he shot a documentary on his hometown, "Constantine, l'ancienne Cirta", in a dual French and Arabic version.

At the same time, he produced and directed "Aux portes du Sahara". The film was destroyed during the Second World War.

Also in 1942, he was required by the army's cinematographic service, for which he directed shots for three years. He also shot "Bataillon de choc", "Le Sous-marin", "Casablanca" for the Allied service. He was then the only African to hold a professional filmmaker's card under number 7951 from the French Center for Cinematography, with the rank of lieutenant.

Demobilized in 1945, he returned to Paris to resume his activity, when the young and new Moroccan production called on him to shoot one of the first Moroccan films speaking in Arabic, "Sérénade à Meriem", with actors Mohamed El Djamoussi, Mahieddine Bachetarzi, Mohamed El-kamel ... as well as a documentary, "Port Lyautey".

After establishing himself as a camera operator in France, Tahar Hannache embarked on the path of directing and film production. He created a production company TA-HA films.

In 1952, he produced and directed "Le plongeur du désert", considered to be the first Algerian fiction. Filmed in Tolga (Biskra), with an entirely Algerian technical team, it features Djamel ed-Dine Chanderli alongside his uncle Tahar Hannache as director, Mohamed Iguerbouchen as music and Himoud Brahimi as the main actor. The means available to the team were very limited and the film was only completed a few months before the outbreak of November 1, 1954. It was censored by the general government.

After having made several short films for television, notably with Mohamed Touri, at the independance Tahar Hannache takes charge of the cinema unit service at the RTA and the training of the first operators of Algerian cinema.

Tahar Hannache died on August 1, 1972, at the hospital of Médéa, at the age of 82. He is buried in the cemetery of El-Alia.

Filmography (director of photography)

* PRODUCTION PATHE : "Surcouf", "Fanfan la Tulipe", "Les Misérables".

* PRODUCTION ANDRE HUGON : "Yasmine", "Levy et Cie", "Les Galeries Levy", "Les 28 jours de CLairette", "Maurin des Maures", "L'illustre Maurin", "Gaspard de Besse", "Héros de la Marne", avec Raimu, "Sarrati le terrible", avec Harry Baur.

* PRODUCTION MARCEL PAGNOL : "La fille du puisatier", avec Fernandel, Raimu et Charpin, "La prière aux étoiles", "La Sevillana", etc.

* PRODUCTION JULIEN DUVIVIER : "La Bandéra" avec Jean Gabin, Annabela et Pierre Renoir.

* PRODUCTION ABEL GANCE : "La Vénus aveugle", avec Vivianne Romance et Georges Flamant, "La femme d'une nuit", avec Viviane Romance et claude Dauphin.

* LES FILMS WILLY ROZIER : "Les Hommes de proie", "Les Anges noirs"(adapté du roman de François Mauriac), "Champion de France", "Romarin",

* LES FILMS MINERVA : "La nuit s'achève", avec Victor Francen et Ludmina Tcherina.

* PRODUCTION FRANCOL FILMS : "Corniche d'amour", film en couleur sur procédé Gévacolor, extérieurs en Algérie (Kabylie).

* LES FILMS CARLUS : "L'Ecole normale de Bouzareah".