El Hadj Bensalah was born in 1946 in Mascara (Algeria)a historical town renowned for its wines. On leaving school, he was a French teacher for four years, also putting on films at the school between 1966 and 1970. He then went on to study film at the Institute of Arts and Broadcasting, which was based in Brussels at the time. Graduating from there in Direction and Editing in 1974, he completed his diploma thesis on film music the same year. El Hadj Bensalah made two short films during his studies: "Maroc face et profil" (15 min) and "La Rencontre" (3 min), and has been in charge of the Cinémathèque in the City of Oran since 1975. El Hadj Bensalah is currently preparing the fifth edition of the Journées Internationales du Court-Métrage d'Oran festival, of which he is the founder, taking place in October 2000. For March 2001, he is planning to create the Salon International du Livre Jeunesse et du Film (International Book and Film Festival for the Young).