Sissani (Mohamed Djediat)

September 26, 1920 – June 29, 2003

Algiers, Algeria

Real name Mohamed Djediat, Sissani, born September 26, 1920 in Algiers, is an Algerian actor and production director. In 1933, he attended the Chabiba school. A few years later, while he was in Nadi Taraqi, Bachetarzi asked a few students to give new blood to his troop. Sissani will be part of this promotion which will join Mansali, Benchoubène, Keltoum, Habib Réda and others. His first steps on stage led him indifferently to the musical or theatrical part of the Mahieddine troupe's shows. He played music in the Réda Bey troupe, played in radio plays and played roles in television films since 1952 (El Yakachine by Ali Abdoun). He also had fun launching a publishing house El Kawakib whose hundredth disc would include the song “Meghdour Mimouna” performed by the duo Soudani and Hachemi (Respectively Sissani and Guerouabi). At the Algiers Opera, he was the one-man band: actor, on occasion, acting director. Considering himself a tragic and comic actor, he was present in almost all the TNA productions which he joined in 1966. From Bab El Foutouh to Cahnt De La Forêt via Sekket Salama and Le Cercle de Craie Caucasien, on the stage, his presence is imposing. In the cinema, he notably played in “Chronique des Années de Braise” by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina (1974), “Echebka” by Ghaouti Bendedouche (1976) and “Les Déracinés” by Mohamed Lamine Merbah (1976). His last cinematographic role will be in "The Clandestine" by Benamar Bakhti (1989) during which the illness began to eat away at him. Sissani, an accomplished artist, continued to practice his profession as an actor, braving illness, until his last breath on June 29, 2003, at the age of 83. His son will say that Sissani died as he lived courageously with humor and a smile on his face. he is buried in the El Alia cemetery in Algiers.