Screens and veils : Maghrebi women's cinema

286 Pages·2011·6.561 MB·English

by  Martin, Florence

Film & Media The cinematic M
vision of North
a
African women r
t
directors
i
n

S
Examined within their economic, cultural, and c
political context, the work of women Maghrebi r
e
filmmakers forms a cohesive body of work.
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Florence Martin examines the intersections of
nation and gender in seven films, showing how n
directors turn around the politics of the gaze s

as they play with the various meanings of the a
Arabic term hijab (veil, curtain, screen). Martin n
analyzes these films on their own theoretical d
terms, developing the notion of “transvergence”

to examine how Maghrebi women’s cinema is V
flexible, playful, and transgressive in its themes, e
aesthetics, narratives, and modes of address. i
l
These are distinctive films that traverse multiple s
cultures, both borrowing from and resisting the
discourses these cultures propose.
Florence Martin is Professor of French and
Francophone Literature and Cinema at Goucher
College and Associate Editor of Studies in French
Cinema. She is author of Bessie Smith, of De la
Guyane à la diaspora africaine (with Isabelle
Favre), and of A vous de voir! (with Maryse
Fauvel and Stéphanie Martin).
cover illustration: photograph
by walid Harbaoui. Used by
new directions in national cinemas permission of abdelaziz Ben
Jacqueline reich, editor mlouka, ctV services, tunis.
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Bloomington & Indianapolis d
i Florence
iupress.indiana.edu a
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1-800-842-6796 a
Martin
ScreensVmec.indd 1 8/19/11 8:34 AM
Screens and Veils
New Directions in National Cinemas
Jacqueline Reich, editor
Screens
and Veils
Maghrebi
Women’s
Cinema
Florence
Martin
Indiana University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis
This book is a publication of Manufactured in the
United States of America
Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street Library of Congress
Bloomington, IN 47404–3797 USA Cataloging-in-Publication Data
iupress.indiana.edu Martin, Florence, [date]
Screens and veils : Maghrebi women’s
Telephone orders 800–842–6796 cinema / Florence Martin.
Fax orders 812–855–7931 p. cm. – (New directions in national
cinemas)
© 2011 by Florence Martin Includes bibliographical references and
index.
All rights reserved ISBN 978­0­253­35668­0 (cloth :
alk. paper) – ISBN 978­0­253­22341­8
No part of this book may be reproduced (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Motion pictures
or utilized in any form or by any means, – Africa, North – History – 20th
electronic or mechanical, including century. 2. Motion pictures – Africa,
photocopying and recording, or by any North – History – 21st century. 3.
information storage and retrieval system, Women motion picture producers and
without permission in writing from the directors – Africa, North. 4. Motion
publisher. The Association of American pictures – Social aspects – Africa, North.
University Presses’ Resolution on Per­ 5. Women in motion pictures. 6. Africa,
missions constitutes the only exception North – In motion pictures. I. Title.
to this prohibition. PN1993.5.A35M37 2011
791.430961 – dc22
∞ The paper used in this publication
meets the minimum requirements of 2011006527
the American National Standard for
Information Sciences–Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48–1992. 1 2 3 4 5 16 15 14 13 12 11
To the brave men and women of Tunisia who dare speak their minds
To Robin

Contents
· Acknowledgments ix
Overture Maghrebi Women’s Transvergent Cinema 1
Act I Transnational Feminist Storytellers:
Shahrazad, Assia, and Farida
1 Assia Djebar’s Transvergent Nuba: The Nuba of the
Women of Mount Chenoua (Algeria, 1978) 43
2 Farida Benlyazid’s Initiation Narrative:
A Door to the Sky (Morocco, 1988) 63
Act II Transvergent Screens
3 Yamina Bachir­Chouikh’s Transvergent
Echoes: Rachida (Algeria, 2002) 91
4 Raja Amari’s Screen of the Haptic:
Red Satin (Tunisia, 2002) 113
5 Nadia El Fani’s Multiple Screens:
Bedwin Hacker (Tunisia, 2002) 131
Act III From Dunyazad to Transvergent Audiences
6 Yasmine Kassari’s “Burning” Screens:
The Sleeping Child (Morocco, 2004) 161
7 Selma Baccar’s Transvergent Spectatorship:
Flower of Oblivion (Tunisia, 2006) 183
Coda 210
· Appendix A: Political and Cinematic Chronology 217
· Appendix B: Primary Filmography 223
· Appendix C: Selected Filmography of Hiam Abbas 237
· Notes 239
· Bibliography 257
· Index 267
Acknowledgments
“Gratefulness” shares with “grace” the generous Latin root of gratia,
whose variegated sphere of meanings includes thanks, charm, even plea­
sure. What a delight it is to share gratefulness with all of you, who have
been so giving of your stories, articles, ideas, laughter, love, companion­
ship, films, enthusiasm, patience, meals, even your homes with me all the
way to the end of this book. The book took several years in the making,
during which I lost two of my dearest, wittiest conversationalists: my
father, Roger­Marc Martin, and my mentor, Michel Fabre. Both of these
losses have left my world askew and strangely muted, and I wish to honor
their missed smiles and fatherly voices here.
For his careful, smart editing and deep friendship, my thanks go
first and foremost to John Boughton, an extraordinary reader and in­
terlocutor without whose patience and brains this book would be a pale
and awkward shadow of its present form. For their friendship, readings,
encouragement, and careful comments, I wish to thank from the bottom
of my heart Susan Hayward, Isabelle Favre, and Maryse Fauvel, as well as
“the reading group” – Mark Ingram, Dan Marcus, Antje Rauwerda, John
Turner – and, of course, Mifa Martin. For their generosity in sharing
films, insights, laughter, meals, coffee, and friendship, I wish to warmly
thank Selma Baccar, Farida Benlyazid, Sonia Chamkhi, Nadia El Fani,
and Naceur Sardi. For their unfailing help in everything in Tunis and
their chaleur humaine in the dead of winter, I wish to thank my Tunisian
ix