On the occasion of the Out of the Shadows film programme at Courtisane Festival (October 20 – 24, 2021), the publication Out of the Shadows was intended to revitalize the work of five filmmakers whose films remain overlooked and barely screened: Atteyat Al-Abnoudy, Selma Baccar, Assia Djebar, Jocelyne Saab and Heiny Srour. Coming from different backgrounds and regions, these filmmakers all began to produce films in the 1970s, at a moment of great political and cultural ferment. Often working against the grain, they set out to attend to voices and stories that were at risk of being drowned out by official History. While each of these filmmakers developed their own bold approaches to cinema, their works explore shared themes such as memory and identity, oppression and liberation, violence and exclusion, and the social and political role of women in Arab societies and histories. This English publication – compiled, edited and published by Sabzian and Courtisane with the support of KASK & Conservatorium – brings together a selection of writings and interviews that speak “right up against” the films in the programme. The texts, most of which have been translated for the first time in English, are a testament to the women’s singular practices. They have been brought together here, right up against one another, in the hope of illuminating their rich and inspiring work and widening its reach and appreciation.
Introduction
Stoffel Debuysere, Gerard-Jan Claes | 2020
ASSIA DJEBAR
A Woman, a Film, a Different Gaze
Josie Fanon | 1977
A First Look
Assia Djebar and Wassyla Tamzali | 1978
“I was looking for a musical language”
Interview by Maryse Léon and Monique Martineau Hennebelle | 1979, 1981
Extract from Une éducation algérienne
Wassyla Tamzali | 2007
Forbidden Gaze, Severed Sound
Assia Djebar | 1979
The Zerda or the Maghreb in the 1930s
Assia Djebar and Malek Alloula | 1979
The Singing of Oblivion
Assia Djebar | 1982
A Woman’s Gaze
Assia Djebar | 1989
My Need for Cinema
Assia Djebar | 1994
JOCELYNE SAAB
“It’s up to women to lift the veil”
Interview by Maryse Léon and Magda Wassef | 1978
“The public needs fiction, and several of us are moving in that direction”
Interview by Gaston Haustrate and Corinne McMullin | 1982
“It is no longer a matter of taking a position”
Interview by Sylvie Dallet | 1983
Documenting and Telling the Torments of the World
Interview by Olivier Hadouchi | 2014
For Jocelyne
Etel Adnan | 2014
Conversations with Etel Adnan and Jocelyne Saab
Olivier Hadouchi | 2014
Letter from Algiers to a Friend from Beirut
Wassyla Tamzali | 2014
HEINY SROUR
The Hour of Liberation
Interview by Guy Hennebelle and Monique Martineau Hennebelle | 1974
Woman, Arab and... Filmmaker
Heiny Srour | 1976
“I hope and pray for a massive influx of women into all fields of the film industry”
Interview by Magda Wassef | 1978
Before the Wolves
John Akomfrah | 1983
The Other Half
Interview by Manny Shirazi | 1985
Between Three Stools
Heiny Srour | 1998
Dhofar for Memory
Heiny Srour | 2008
“My loyalty is always with the oppressed. Whether in Africa, the Middle East or Vietnam”
Interview by Olivier Hadouchi | 2020
ATTEYAT AL-ABNOUDY
Everyone Wears a Mask
Interview by Jim Pines | 1973
“The only way for me as a filmmaker to express my feelings for them was to make a film”
Interview by J.-F. Camus | 1973
Atteyat – the Egyptian
Interview by Johanni Larjanko and Riitta Santala | 1991
“My mission: to depict Egypt. And my request: democracy”
Interview by Samar Salman | 1991
Making Movies, Marking Time
Diana Digges | 1998
Poetry of the Real
Amina Hassan | 2007
SELMA BACCAR
For the Self-Expression of the Arab Woman
Heiny Srour, Selma Baccar and Magda Wassef | 1978
“The men in the street were a little amused to see a woman giving orders”
Magda Wassef | 1978
An Uncompromising View
Interview by Wassyla Tamzali | 1979
“I made Fatma 75 because, despite everything, women are still not equal to men”
Interview by Farida Ayari, Férid Boughedir and Guy Hennebelle | 1981
An Encounter with the Doyenne of Tunisian film, Selma Baccar
Interview by Stefanie Van de Peer | 2010
Publication compiled by
Stoffel Debuysere and gerard-Jan Claes, in collaboration with Pieter-Paul Mortier and Pepa De Maesschalck
Translations
Marjolijn de Jager, Sis Matthé, Veva Leye, Reem Shilleh, Stoffel Debuysere
Copy editing
Rebecca Jane Arthur, Sis Matthé, Heiny Srour, Michel Euvrard, Richard Wagman, Suzanne Kallalá
Design
Gunther Fobe
Printed by
Graphius
Thanks to
Mai Abu ElDahab, Mireille Calle-Gruber, Sylvia Dallet, David Depestel, Marjolijn de Jager, Yasmin Desouki, Asmaa Yehia El-Taher, Olivier Hadouchi, Mary Jirmanus Saba, Lucien Logette, Natasha Marie Llorens, Monique Martineau Hennebelle, Colleen O’Shea, Mathilde Rouxel, Reem Shilleh, Heiny Srour, Wassyla Tamzali, Stephanie Van de Peer, Katrien Vuylsteke Vanfleteren, Magda Wassef, Mohanad Yaqubi, Debra Zimmerman, and many others without whom this publication would never have come to fruition.