What does it mean to be Algerian in Montreal in 2004? To explore this question, Porte Parole partnered with filmmaker and writer Bachir Bensaddek, himself of Algerian origin. Drawing on interviews conducted within the Algerian community, Montréal la blanche gives voice to women and men navigating between memories of the civil war, the hope of a new beginning, and the sometimes harsh realities of exile.
This production marked the first time Porte Parole created a documentary play whose text was not penned by Annabel Soutar. Until then, all of the company’s works — Novembre, 2000 Questions, and Santé! — had emerged from her investigations. By entrusting the text to Bensaddek and the direction to Philippe Ducros, the company opened its documentary process to a creator speaking from within his own community.
Based on extensive interviews with recent arrivals, the play examines the living conditions of Algerian immigrants in Montreal, shaped both by the memory of Algeria’s “Black Decade” and by the concrete challenges of exile: work, housing, social status, and the search for belonging. Presented in spring 2004 at the Monument-National’s Studio, Montréal la blanche unfolds as documentary theatre where intimate stories intersect with major political upheavals.
Montréal la blanche found a second life in 2016, when Bachir Bensaddek adapted it for the screen. The film, which follows two Algerian immigrants trapped in a taxi on Christmas Eve, extends the play’s exploration of displacement, racism, and the struggle to “find one’s place” in a city like Montreal.
Within Porte Parole’s history, Montréal la blanche stands as a significant milestone: one of the company’s first large-scale investigative productions, and the first time its documentary approach served as a platform for an invited writer’s voice. Twenty years later—at a time when questions of living together and welcoming newcomers remain central in Quebec—this play continues to shed light, from the back seat of a Montreal taxi, on the ways we share the city.
In the media in 2004
