Born in 1940 in Sétif, Algeria, he is a member of the National Liberation Front and of Lakhdar Hamina’s group in Tunis. He worked as a war reporter in the frontier area. After an internship in the Yougoslavian television in Belgrade, he studies cinéma at the Paris’ prestigious IDHEC cinema school and then in Lodz, Poland. He began directing in 1963 and shot short films for more than 30 years.