In Algiers, “the Casbah is like a large staircase, each step is a terrace”, explains Lyes, one of the main characters of Little Casbah. At the start of this animated series written by Alice Zeniter and Alice Carré, the war has not yet reached the city gates, but tensions are brewing.
In the middle of the summer of 1955, Lyes, this resourceful street child, takes in Khadidja when the latter’s older brother is arrested after an altercation with the police. He takes her to his makeshift shelter on the roofs of the Casbah, shared with Ahmed and Philippe. Aged 10 to 12, the four friends will do everything they can to help the little girl find her brother, and decipher a mysterious black notebook found in Malek’s belongings.
Pedagogy and dialogue
Intended for children aged 6 and over, Little Casbah is a touching story of friendship between characters from different communities and backgrounds (Spaniards, French, Jews, Arabs, Chaouis, etc.). The different waves of migration that populated Algeria are traced through the history of each person’s origins, explaining in an educational way the frictions between peoples. This complex social and historical context, at the origin of a conflict that is still often taboo today, is approached from a child’s perspective, without the subject ever being infantilizing.
In an explosion of beautiful, bright colors, despite a somewhat academic design, these six 26-minute episodes subtly address the importance of dialogue, without falling into candor. They are accompanied on the lumni.fr site by educational modules, Little Casbah, tell me about Algeria. In 2025, the series will be adapted into a book, then into a comic strip by Bayard Jeunesse.
“Petite Casbah”, from this Monday October 28 at 6:50 p.m. on France 4