Passion or Profession: Filmmaker

Period: 1944-

Born in Algiers, Allouache wrote and directed his first feature, Omar Gatlato, in 1976. His critically-acclaimed films have since included Bab El-Oued City (1994), which depicts Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria, Salut Cousin! (1996), a story of two Algerians in Paris, and The Other World (2001), which portrays a young Frenchwoman of Algerian descent going to Algeria in search of her lost fiancé.