UN/BELONGING presents films that share intimate stories from the North African immigrant experience in France. Set in varying temporalities and socio-political contexts, these fiction films reflect recurring and parallel struggles of individuals adapting to new realities in France and North Africa. The leading characters echo each other through scenes of perpetual wandering, in their pursuits for livelihood, safety, freedom, and ultimately, belonging. Despite their best efforts, they are all caught between the clutches of circumstances beyond their control. Yet, in the midst of such unrelenting and indifferent societies, these accounts shed necessary and humanizing light on the lingering realities of alienation and the search for a life worth living.
Dina Amer’s You Resemble Me tells the story of Hasna, a young girl raised on the outskirts of Paris who was torn apart from her sister at an early age and placed in rotating foster homes. Struggling to find her identity and purpose, she finds herself caught in cycles of intergenerational trauma. The audience bears witness to transformations within Hasna, brought on by perpetual disappointments, heartbreaks and institutionalized barriers in her life that lead her on a path of no return.
In Latifa Said’s Unquiet Days, Fadila, a cabaret singer, arrives in a town outside of Marseille in search of refuge during the Algerian civil war (1991-2002). Having fled from Oran due to threats on her life by extremist Islamist groups who opposed her profession, she is faced with feelings of immense loss, solitude and disorientation as she attempts to situate herself in a new reality.
Moumen Smihi’s Si Moh, the Unlucky Man presents a day in the life of a Moroccan migrant worker who has just set foot in France. While roaming the city for work, he encounters other migrants who share his experiences of displacement. This intimate account is rendered through Smihi’s experimental and striking lens alongside an engrossing soundtrack by sound artist Gerard Delassus.
Si Moh, the Unlucky Man (Si Moh, pas de chance), Moumen Smihi, France,1971, 20 min.
French and Moroccan Arabic with English subtitles
Synopsis: Shot in Paris after Smihi completed film school, Si Moh, the Unlucky Man is an investigation of the life of migrant workers in France. Connected to the Maghreb by postcards and to his fellow migrants by shared experiences of alienation, the character Simoh negotiates the industrialized suburbs of Paris as the subject of his intimate camera. Smihi’s arresting images and musique concrète soundtrack (by the sound artist Gerard Delassus) create an experimental and modernist intervention into the city
Bio: Born in 1945 in Tangier, Morocco, Moumen Smihi attended film school at the influential IDHEC (L’institut des hautes études cinématographiques) in Paris from 1965 to 1969). Deeply influenced by the revolutionary ideas of 1968 Paris and driven by a desire to interweave this social and political consciousness with his experience of the Maghreb, Smihi began his career with the short film Si Moh, pas de chance/Si Moh, the Unlucky Man (1971) and returned to Morocco for his much-acclaimed first feature, El Chergui, ou, le silence violent/The East Wind (1975). Ever since, he has continued to address contemporary Moroccan realities such as colonial histories, political censorship, religion, and ethnic, racial, and linguistic diversity. Smihi's groundbreaking work, pursued over a long and prolific career, includes documentaries, shorts, and feature-length work made in Morocco, Egypt, and France, as well as five volumes of writing comprising critical interviews, articles on Arab, European, and Hollywood cinemas, and essays on film theory.
- Year1971
- Runtime16 minutes
- LanguageFrench, Moroccan Arabic
- CountryFrance
- Subtitle LanguageEnglish
- DirectorMoumen Smihi
- ProducerG.R.E.C. (Groupe de Recherches et d'Essais Cinématographiques), CNC (Centre National du Cinéma) français
- Executive ProducerMoumen
- CastAbdeslam Sakini
- CinematographerColin Mounier
- EditorClaude Farny
- ComposerGérard Delassus
- Sound DesignGérard Delassus
UN/BELONGING presents films that share intimate stories from the North African immigrant experience in France. Set in varying temporalities and socio-political contexts, these fiction films reflect recurring and parallel struggles of individuals adapting to new realities in France and North Africa. The leading characters echo each other through scenes of perpetual wandering, in their pursuits for livelihood, safety, freedom, and ultimately, belonging. Despite their best efforts, they are all caught between the clutches of circumstances beyond their control. Yet, in the midst of such unrelenting and indifferent societies, these accounts shed necessary and humanizing light on the lingering realities of alienation and the search for a life worth living.
Dina Amer’s You Resemble Me tells the story of Hasna, a young girl raised on the outskirts of Paris who was torn apart from her sister at an early age and placed in rotating foster homes. Struggling to find her identity and purpose, she finds herself caught in cycles of intergenerational trauma. The audience bears witness to transformations within Hasna, brought on by perpetual disappointments, heartbreaks and institutionalized barriers in her life that lead her on a path of no return.
In Latifa Said’s Unquiet Days, Fadila, a cabaret singer, arrives in a town outside of Marseille in search of refuge during the Algerian civil war (1991-2002). Having fled from Oran due to threats on her life by extremist Islamist groups who opposed her profession, she is faced with feelings of immense loss, solitude and disorientation as she attempts to situate herself in a new reality.
Moumen Smihi’s Si Moh, the Unlucky Man presents a day in the life of a Moroccan migrant worker who has just set foot in France. While roaming the city for work, he encounters other migrants who share his experiences of displacement. This intimate account is rendered through Smihi’s experimental and striking lens alongside an engrossing soundtrack by sound artist Gerard Delassus.
Si Moh, the Unlucky Man (Si Moh, pas de chance), Moumen Smihi, France,1971, 20 min.
French and Moroccan Arabic with English subtitles
Synopsis: Shot in Paris after Smihi completed film school, Si Moh, the Unlucky Man is an investigation of the life of migrant workers in France. Connected to the Maghreb by postcards and to his fellow migrants by shared experiences of alienation, the character Simoh negotiates the industrialized suburbs of Paris as the subject of his intimate camera. Smihi’s arresting images and musique concrète soundtrack (by the sound artist Gerard Delassus) create an experimental and modernist intervention into the city
Bio: Born in 1945 in Tangier, Morocco, Moumen Smihi attended film school at the influential IDHEC (L’institut des hautes études cinématographiques) in Paris from 1965 to 1969). Deeply influenced by the revolutionary ideas of 1968 Paris and driven by a desire to interweave this social and political consciousness with his experience of the Maghreb, Smihi began his career with the short film Si Moh, pas de chance/Si Moh, the Unlucky Man (1971) and returned to Morocco for his much-acclaimed first feature, El Chergui, ou, le silence violent/The East Wind (1975). Ever since, he has continued to address contemporary Moroccan realities such as colonial histories, political censorship, religion, and ethnic, racial, and linguistic diversity. Smihi's groundbreaking work, pursued over a long and prolific career, includes documentaries, shorts, and feature-length work made in Morocco, Egypt, and France, as well as five volumes of writing comprising critical interviews, articles on Arab, European, and Hollywood cinemas, and essays on film theory.
- Year1971
- Runtime16 minutes
- LanguageFrench, Moroccan Arabic
- CountryFrance
- Subtitle LanguageEnglish
- DirectorMoumen Smihi
- ProducerG.R.E.C. (Groupe de Recherches et d'Essais Cinématographiques), CNC (Centre National du Cinéma) français
- Executive ProducerMoumen
- CastAbdeslam Sakini
- CinematographerColin Mounier
- EditorClaude Farny
- ComposerGérard Delassus
- Sound DesignGérard Delassus