Mehdi Charef, the French film director and screenwriter, died on June 9, 2026.
He was 73. Born on October 21, 1952, in Maghnia, Algeria, he built a career in French cinema after emerging in the 1980s.
His debut feature, Tea in the Harem, was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and won the César Award for Best First Film. He later brought Au pays des Juliets to the Cannes competition in 1992 and went on to direct films including Daughter of Keltoum and All the Invisible Children.