Get the latest gossip
Mia Bendrimia’s ‘Magma,’ Produced With Oscar Nominee Kira Simon-Kennedy, Confronts France’s ‘Willful Amnesia’ About Colonial Past in Algeria
French Algerian filmmaker Mia Bendrimia's documentary debut takes an emotional journey into her family's complicated past in Algeria.
Set against the backdrop of Algeria’s war for independence, “Magma” is nevertheless an intimate story about a family grappling with the “intergenerational trauma” of its complicated connection to the North African country, according to Bendrimia. The director uncovered several surprising facts during her research, such as the role played by her grandfather’s cousin — a freedom fighter lionized by his countrymen as the “Algerian Rambo” — in the independence struggle. The country is slowly beginning to reckon with what Bendrimia describes as “the darker chapters of its history.” New fields of academic study and popular enquiry have emerged around the subject of decolonization, and in 2012, former President Nicolas Sarkozy recognized France’s “historical responsibility” in abandoning the harkis who fought alongside their former colonizers.
Or read this on Variety
