Home  >  2011  >  Habiba Djahnine

Transcending Geographies of Fear - curated films by Habiba Djahnine

Curator’s Statement

In my proposition, I drew on all genres of cinema art (creative documentaries, fiction, experimental film, animation films). In this selection, I was tempted to ask the question of what penetrates the society in which I live, in this case Algerian society. The filmed images help shed light on the imagination that stirs a society. The particularity of these selected films is the liberty of creation, the independence of the cinematographic gesture.

For over fifteen years, all types of artistic creativity in Algeria have been marked by themes related to the violence that the society experienced. Like a setting, this horrible war with many faces that led to the confrontation of the Islamist extremists on the one hand and the Algerian army on the other, continues to take on new forms, to the extent of reaching all segments of society, sparing no one. The words defining these multitudes of bloody conflicts are numerous – civil war, war against civilians, anti-terrorist – words are very important, but I will not dwell on them; the images show us the field and beyond, the road and its consequences. Besides, nothing is without consequences! One of the consequences of ‘war’ is death, exile, disappearance, oppression, confinement. It may be important to remember that this war with the many designations that hit Algeria came after October 1988, a date which marks the first major widespread rioting in the country. The repression that followed made the political forces that were in hiding react. From 1988 to 1992, Algerian society experienced a fine profusion. The birth of a multiparty system and freedom of association has allowed hundreds of structures to emerge. This meant that Algerians had a strong need to express themselves. More ...

Biography

Habiba Djahnine is a film director born in 1968 in Algeria. She is the initiator and the one in charge of the workshop ‘Bejaia Doc’ specialized in documentary creation. This workshop is organized by two associations: Cinéma et Mémoire (Bejaia) and Kaina Cinéma (Paris) in Bejaia, Algeria.

She is the author of several short stories and humorous texts published in journals in France and in Algeria. In 2003 she published a poetry collection entitled ‘Outre-Mort’ (Beyond Death) with El Ghazali. A poem from this collection was also published in an anthology entitled ‘Je est un autre’ (I is someone else), published by Seghers.

Since 2003, she has collaborated in various festivals and cinematographic events as a curator. She is the co-author of ‘Associations algériennes, parcours et expériences’ (Algerian Associations: paths and experiences) published by PCPA in 2008. In 2006 she directed a documentary film entitled ‘Lettre à ma sœur’ (Letter to My Sister) and in 2008 ‘Autrement citoyens’ (Otherwise Citizens), a movie about associations in motion in the Algerian civil society. In 2010 she directed ‘Retour à la montagne’ (Back to the Mountains) and in 2011 ‘Avant de franchir la ligne d'horizon’ (Before Crossing the Horizon).