The Zerda and the Songs of Forgetting

Synopsis

“La Zerda and the songs of oblivion” (1982) is one of only two films made by the Algerian novelist Assia Djebar, with “La Nouba des femmes du mont Chenoua” (1977). Powerful poetic essay based on archives, in which Assia Djebar – in collaboration with the poet Malek Alloula and the composer Ahmed Essyad – deconstructs the French colonial propaganda of the Pathé-Gaumont newsreels from 1912 to 1942, to reveal the signs of revolt among the subjugated North African population. Through the reassembly of these propaganda images, Djebar recovers the history of the Zerda ceremonies, suggesting that the power and mysticism of this tradition were obliterated and erased by the predatory voyeurism of the colonial gaze. This very gaze is thus subverted and a hidden tradition of resistance and struggle is revealed, against any exoticizing and orientalist temptation.

Main Cast

Crew

Department	Role	Name
Directing	Director	Assia Djebar
Crew	Cinematography	Rachid Merabtine
Sound	Music	Ahmed Essyad
	Sound	Said Genif
Writing	Writer	Assia Djebar Malek Alloula
Editing	Editor	Nicole Schlemmer Marie-Hélène Méliès-Lehérissey Marie-Ange Baratier
Department	Role	Name

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