Four shots, without intertitles. 1. Courtyard inside the Bardo. Several men in uniform and medals. Stocky and bearded, the Bey, Muhammad al-Nasir, arrives, walking slowly. His entourage includes Habib Djellouli, Mustapha Dinguizli and Muhammad al-Munsif. 2. Exterior shot of the Bardo with the Lion Steps on the right. The camera follows the condemned man as he descends the steps. He is surrounded by guards, gendarmes, spectators and journalists. On the left, a coach comes to a stop. 3. Street. The carriage approaches, surrounded by guards on horseback. 4. With his hands tied and face covered, the condemned man climbs down from the carriage.
The main quality of these striking images is their immediacy. They implicate us in its gaze, which looks on from close by in the natural, informal way typical of Samama’s work. On the basis of subject and style, this could be footage from the procès Djellaz del 1912. Albert Samama photographed gallows, guillotines and executions and was also the official court photographer. In 1912, the occupying French authorities forbid him from filming the execution of two men condemned to die over the Affaire Djellaz on 26 October 1912 in Tunis. The trial for the Djellaz case took place in June 1912 and ended with seven death sentences. Five of those condemned were pardoned on 30 June 1912 while Chedli el Guettari and Manoubi Djardjar’s appeal was turned down on 17 October 1912.

Mariann Lewinsky