In the Spring of 1974, French archeologist Francoise Claustre along with a young aide and a German doctor and his wife were captured by rebel forces in Chad, Africa while exploring pre-Islamic tombs. The doctor’s wife was killed during the attack but her husband was quickly released after West German officials paid his ransom. The aide later escaped but Claustre remained a hostage of the Maoist rebel leader Hissene Habre and his clan for 33 months. During that time, her husband Pierre, a French official, tried to bargain with the rebels when his government proved inept at handling the situation but he too ended up being captured and held in a different camp in Chad. Renowned photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Raymond Depardon was allowed to interview Francoise during her ordeal for his non-fiction shorts, Tchad 2: L’ultimatum (1975) and Tchad 3 (1976), which were broadcast on French TV and provoked a major public outcry over the entire situation. Finally in January 1977 Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi brokered a deal with the Chad rebels and the French couple was released and returned to Paris. Interestingly enough, Depardon would return to this subject again in 1990 with La Captive du Desert (Captive of the Desert), a fictionalized account of the Claustre affair which remains one of his few forays into feature film making.
Cinema Sojourns 