PORTRAIT OF ASSIA DJEBAR
France | 1987 | 7 min | col. | French
In just a few minutes, Maldoror establishes a quiet, profound dialogue with the great Algerian novelist Assia Djebar: words become sparse while gestures, silences, and gazes carry the weight of history and women’s memory. The female body becomes writing, presence, resistance. The film is neither an interview nor a real portrait: it is an encounter between two intellectuals who acknowledge, observe, and listen to each other. With elegance and sobriety, Maldoror lets the skin speak, along with time and history. A gem of intimate and political cinema. (L.F.)
Local Time
- Timezone: America/New_York
- Date: 06 Nov 2025
- Time: 11:00
Location
- Cinema Astra - Piazza Cesare Beccaria, 9 50121 Florence (FI)
Organizer
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Sarah Maldoror
Sarah Maldoror (1929–2020) was a French director, Pan-African by adoption, revolutionary voice, and the first female filmmaker in African cinema. She chronicled the wars of liberation in the former Portuguese colonies, with a particular focus on the role of women in the struggle. After founding the first theater company of black actors in France, Les Griots, in 1956, she was assistant director to Pontecorvo for The Battle of Algiers in 1966, and then to William Klein for Festival panafricain d'Alger (1969). Her first feature film was also the first ever made by an African female director: Sambizanga (1972). Her other major works include her debut short film Monangambééé (1969), Aimé Césaire, un homme une terre (1976), Aimé Césaire – Le Masque des mots (1987), Portrait de Assia Djebar (1989), and Léon G. Damas (1994).
