Yamina Benguigui

Yamina Benguigui (born April 9, 1957)[1] is a French-Algerian film director. She is known for her films on gender issues in the North African immigrant community in France.[2]

Contents

Life

Benguigui's parents were Kabyle and immigrated to France from Algeria in the early 1950s.[3] She never discovered why her parents decided to leave Algeria, saying the subject was considered taboo.[4] Born in Lille, Benguigui was the eldest daughter of six children and spent her childhood in northern France.[5] Describing herself as a quiet child who grew up in the Islamic tradition, Benguigui was only 13 years old when she first decided to become a filmmaker.[5]

Her father was a political leader in the Algerian National Movement, and was jailed in France for three years as a political prisoner (she has also stated that he was jailed on two separate occasions, and that her whole family was once under house arrest).[2][5] Because he did not support her in her chosen profession, Benguigui broke off contact with him early on, only to reconnect with him in late 2001.[2] After she left the family her mother divorced her father as well.[5] Yamina Benguigui married a Jewish pied-noir and has two daughters.[5]

Career

Earning her baccalaureate and going on to study at film school, Benguigui then collaborated with French director Jean-Daniel Pollet.[5] Later Benguigui founded "Bandit Productions" with director Rachid Bouchareb.[6] In 1994 her documentary Femmes d'Islam was broadcast on France 2,[7] but subsequently she decided that she would prefer to examine the immigrant experience in France rather than life in Algeria.[5]

Her next documentary, Mémoires d'immigrés, l'héritage maghrébin, cost 50 million francs and was the result of 350 interviews conducted with immigrants across France. After a two-year period of preparation and another nine months of editing it was first shown in May 1997 on Canal+. Receiving positive reviews from critics, it was rebroadcast the following month and brought to theaters the following January.[7]

As of February 2008 Benguigui was working on a film entitled Le paradis, c'est complet!, starring Isabelle Adjani.[8][9]

In the March 2008 French municipal elections Benguigui was elected in the XXe arrondissement to the Conseil de Paris, where she will concern herself with human rights and the fight against discrimination.[10] She is associated with the Socialist Party.[11]

Filmography

Awards

Mémoires d'immigrés, l'héritage maghrébin

Inch'Allah Dimanche

References

  1. ^ a b "Yamina Benguigui". uniFrance. http://www.unifrance.org/annuaires/personne/141958/yamina-benguigui. Retrieved 2008-04-12. 
  2. ^ a b c Alexander, Livia (May 2002). "French-Algerian: A Story of Immigrants and Identity". SATYA. http://www.satyamag.com/may02/alexander.html. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
  3. ^ Kerviel, Sylvie (1999-06-21). "Au nom des immigrés; YAMINA BENGUIGUI." (in French). Le Monde. 
  4. ^ "Portraits d'immigrés" (in French). Entre-Gens. http://www.entre-gens.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=65. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Dupont, Joan (1998-03-31). "Seeking an Identity in 'the Immigrant's Silence'". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/1998/03/31/yam.t.php. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
  6. ^ Miadi, Fadwa (2006-01-29). "Yamina Benguigui: Cinéaste franco-algérienne" (in French). Jeune Afrique. http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_jeune_afrique.asp?art_cle=LIN29016yaminiugiug0. Retrieved 2008-04-12. 
  7. ^ a b c d Sylvie Durmelat, "Transmission and Mourning in Mémoires d'immigrés: l'héritage maghrébin: Yamina Benguigui as 'Memory Entrepreneuse,'" in Women, Immigration and Identities in France, ed. Jane Freedman and Carrie Tarr (Berg Publishers, 2000). ISBN 1859734367 p. 171–172.
  8. ^ Chouffan, Alain (2008-02-21). "Yamina Benguigui : Nous irons tous au paradis" (in French). Le Nouvel Observateur. http://hebdo.nouvelobs.com/hebdo/parution/p2259/articles/a366953-yamina_benguigui__nous_irons_tous_au_paradis.html. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
  9. ^ "Isabelle Adjani : Plus proche de ses origines algériennes" (in French). El Watan. 2008-01-21. http://www.elwatan.com/spip.php?page=article&id_article=85168. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
  10. ^ "Paris: Delanoë réélu maire, Baupin perd les transports" (in French). Liberation. 2008-03-21. http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/politiques/municipales2008/actu/316959.FR.php. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
  11. ^ "Les élus 2008-2014 au Conseil de Paris" (in French). Fédération de Paris du Parti socialiste. http://www.ps-paris.org/?doc=1100. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
  12. ^ a b c d e "Yamina Benguigui". The Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0071117/. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
  13. ^ Arnaud, Alexandra (2003-09-27). "Chez moi, la France" (in French). l'Humanité. http://www.humanite.fr/2003-09-27_Medias_-Chez-moi-la-France. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
  14. ^ "The Tournées Festival: Le Plafond de Verre". French American Cultural Exchange. http://www.facecouncil.org/tournees/fichesfilms/plafonddeverre.html. Retrieved 2008-04-12. 
  15. ^ a b c d e f "Awards for Yamina Benguigui". The Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0071117/awards. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 

External links