Give as a gift
This film screening series examines forced disappearance as a political strategy and an enduring lived reality across the SWANA region. Through documentary and essay films, it centers testimony, memory, and visual absence as counterpoints to state violence and historical erasure. Anchored by My Father and Qaddafi (Jihan El-Tahri, Algeria), the series traces disappearance through intimate family histories shaped by authoritarian power. Erased, Ascent of the Invisible (Ghassan Halwani, Lebanon) extends this inquiry through an exploration of urban erasure and visual absence, emphasizing disappearance as an unresolved and ongoing condition. Additional works, including Letter to my Sister (Habiba Djahnine, Algeria) Screen Recording 2020-11-20 at 1.59.44 PM , (Argyro Nicolaou, Cyprus), Prisoner and Jailer, (Muhannad Lamin, Libya), and All Is Well On the Border Front (Akram Zaatari, Lebanon) expand the exploration of memory, absence, and unfinished histories across the region.
OBLIVION is curated by Laila Sharif and is co-presented by ArteEast and BAM. This program is part of the legacy program Unpacking the ArteArchive, which preserves and presents over 20 years of film and video programming by ArteEast.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Letter to My Sister (Lettre à ma soeur)
My sister Nabila Djahnine was assassinated on February 15, 1995 in Tizi-Ouzou, a larger town in Kabylia. Nabila was the chairwoman of the Women Rights Association "Thighri N'tmettouth" ("Women’s Cries") of that town. In 1994, Nabila had written a letter to me, in which she told about increasing violence, repression, assassinations, faint hopes and her distress for not being able to do anything against it during that terrible period. At that time, I lived for a while in a town in the Algerian Sahara. Ten years after Nabila was assassinated, I return to Algeria to make this film.
A Letter to my Sister is my answer to her 1994 letter, telling what took place during these past ten years. I want to return to the premises to find out if and how the town Tizi-Ouzou, as well as people she knew and with whom she shared activism, have changed. I want to ask them why assassinations and massacres of civilians have become the only way to deal with conflicts between Algerian citizens? Why has dialog become impossible?
- Year2006
- Runtime68 minutes
- LanguageFrench, Kabyle
- CountryAlgeria
- PremiereFILMATHEQUE ALGER OCTOBRE 2006 ET PARIS
- GenreDocumentary Essay
- Subtitle LanguageEnglish
- DirectorHabiba Djahnine
- ScreenwriterHabiba Djahnine
- ProducerPolygone Etoilé, Habiba Djahnine, Memento
- FilmmakerHabiba Djahnine
- CastNabila Djahnine, Malika Bouhadef, Danielle Maoudj
- EditorBenoît Prin, Amina Djahnine
- ComposerMoussa Selkh
- MusicMoussa Selkh
This film screening series examines forced disappearance as a political strategy and an enduring lived reality across the SWANA region. Through documentary and essay films, it centers testimony, memory, and visual absence as counterpoints to state violence and historical erasure. Anchored by My Father and Qaddafi (Jihan El-Tahri, Algeria), the series traces disappearance through intimate family histories shaped by authoritarian power. Erased, Ascent of the Invisible (Ghassan Halwani, Lebanon) extends this inquiry through an exploration of urban erasure and visual absence, emphasizing disappearance as an unresolved and ongoing condition. Additional works, including Letter to my Sister (Habiba Djahnine, Algeria) Screen Recording 2020-11-20 at 1.59.44 PM , (Argyro Nicolaou, Cyprus), Prisoner and Jailer, (Muhannad Lamin, Libya), and All Is Well On the Border Front (Akram Zaatari, Lebanon) expand the exploration of memory, absence, and unfinished histories across the region.
OBLIVION is curated by Laila Sharif and is co-presented by ArteEast and BAM. This program is part of the legacy program Unpacking the ArteArchive, which preserves and presents over 20 years of film and video programming by ArteEast.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Letter to My Sister (Lettre à ma soeur)
My sister Nabila Djahnine was assassinated on February 15, 1995 in Tizi-Ouzou, a larger town in Kabylia. Nabila was the chairwoman of the Women Rights Association "Thighri N'tmettouth" ("Women’s Cries") of that town. In 1994, Nabila had written a letter to me, in which she told about increasing violence, repression, assassinations, faint hopes and her distress for not being able to do anything against it during that terrible period. At that time, I lived for a while in a town in the Algerian Sahara. Ten years after Nabila was assassinated, I return to Algeria to make this film.
A Letter to my Sister is my answer to her 1994 letter, telling what took place during these past ten years. I want to return to the premises to find out if and how the town Tizi-Ouzou, as well as people she knew and with whom she shared activism, have changed. I want to ask them why assassinations and massacres of civilians have become the only way to deal with conflicts between Algerian citizens? Why has dialog become impossible?
- Year2006
- Runtime68 minutes
- LanguageFrench, Kabyle
- CountryAlgeria
- PremiereFILMATHEQUE ALGER OCTOBRE 2006 ET PARIS
- GenreDocumentary Essay
- Subtitle LanguageEnglish
- DirectorHabiba Djahnine
- ScreenwriterHabiba Djahnine
- ProducerPolygone Etoilé, Habiba Djahnine, Memento
- FilmmakerHabiba Djahnine
- CastNabila Djahnine, Malika Bouhadef, Danielle Maoudj
- EditorBenoît Prin, Amina Djahnine
- ComposerMoussa Selkh
- MusicMoussa Selkh