Author: Genevieve Berendt, Department of French and Italian, Ohio State University

Extract: »Francophone Maghrebian cinema concerns films from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. All three are very distinct countries, yet all share a strong history and cinematic tradition. All were originally French colonies that gained independence in the 1950s and 1960s. Although in the beginning, it had to rely on foreign, especially French, support, Maghrebian cinema is emerging as an independent and self-sustaining art through government support. Maghrebian cinema’s strongest style is its use of realism, especially in representing social issues that continue to affect the countries today. Nationalistic films were popular in the beginning of Maghrebian cinema, especially ones portraying independence, such as Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina’s Chronique des années de braise (Algeria, 1975). Realism has more recently been specifically centered around women and women’s issues in the Maghreb and “has been strengthened by the emergence of a new generation born after independence, with a quarter of the younger filmmakers now being women” (Armes 1). Films such as Les Silences du palais (1994), Rachida (2002), and L’Enfant endormi (2004) are all part of this genre that exploded in the 1990s with the emergence of famous female directors such as Moufida Tlatli, Yamina Bachir-Chouikh, and Yasmine Kassari, who directed the films mentioned above.
Although women in Maghrebian cinema are commonly represented in positions in which they are oppressed and silenced, they are not passive but rather break the silence in moments of duress using screams. The women use screams to address their oppression, and the other women in the scenes use silence to create space for the screams. The silence and screams subversively stand out to counteract the oppression through verbal and nonverbal means. These three films—Les Silences du palais, Rachida, and L’Enfant endormi—all include compelling scenes that show this active opposition.« (Source: Article, p. 1)

Contents:

	Introduction (p. 1)
	Summary of Films (p. 2)
	Choice of Films (p. 2)
	What is the Maghreb? (p. 3)
	History of the Region (p. 3)
	Politics of Language (p. 4)
	Religion and Veiling (p. 5)
	Women Represented in a Position in which they are Silenced (p. 6)
	Active Broken Silence (p. 7)
	Absent Men in Maghrebian Films (p. 8)
	Scream as Agency, Silence as Agency (p. 9)
	The Effects of the Setting on Agency (p. 22)
	Conclusion (p. 23)
	Bibliography (p. 25)
	Filmography (p. 26)

Wikipedia: History of Africa: History of Algeria / History of Algeria (1962–1999) | History of Africa: History of Tunisia / History of modern Tunisia | Film: Drama (film and television) / Rachida, The Silences of the Palace | Sex and the law: Rape / Rape in Africa