The Olive Trees of Justice
James Blue, 1962, 81 min
UK premiere

Introduced by Ehsan Khoshbakht

“James Blue’s first feature and only fiction film was banned in France for years. Adapted from the largely autobiographical novel by Jean Pélégri, who also stars as one of the film’s protagonists (and who also played the policeman in Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket), Blue’s dramatic film was clandestinely shot on location in Algiers and the surrounding countryside at the height of the Algerian War. Inspired by Italian Neorealism, it is a unique and evocatively photographed document of a violent historical crisis unfolding moment by moment in the most seemingly bucolic of circumstances.” – MoMA

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Never on Sunday is a series of screenings of rare classics, archive masterpieces, obscure delights and forgotten gems carefully curated and introduced by Ehsan Khoshbakht and taking place the last Sunday of each month at Close-Up.