France,
2000, 79 min
Shown in 2001
CREDITS
- dir
-
Philippe Faucon
- prod
-
Humbert Balsan
- scr
-
Philippe Faucon, Soraya Nini
- cam
-
Jacques Loiseleux
- editor
-
Philippe Faucon, Sophie Mandonnet, Nacer Amri
- cast
-
Lynda Benahouda, Mohamed Chaouch, Kheira Oualhaci, Lakhdar Smati, Nadia El Koutei
- source
-
Flach Pyramide International, 5 Rue Richepanse, 75008 Paris, France. FAX: 33-1-40-20-05-51
-
COMMENTS
Screened with Feats of Hercules. Lynda Benahouda in person.
OTHER
Samia illuminates a world that cinema has rarely explored: the codes, rules and taboos as well as the family dynamics of Algerians living in France. Samia is an adolescent girl caught between two cultures and struggling for her self-worth. As one of eight children of an Algerian immigrant family living on the outskirts of Marseilles, her daily life exposes her to the openness of French city life and its racism—both subtle and overt. Her older sister has a French boyfriend, which offends her mother, who clings to the old ways. When her father is hospitalized, her eldest brother assumes a strict macho authority that Samia resists. The family is battered by societal violence caused by racism and unemployment and the familial violence in which a son sees himself as protector of his sister’s virtue. All are bound by rigid traditions which are oppressive to a strong-willed individual like Samia. The film is steeped in the sensual details of family life such as daily food preparation and meals and a traditional Algerian marriage ceremony. Philippe Faucon’s intelligent naturalistic direction and Lynda Benahouda’s luminous performance make Samia nuanced and powerful.
—Robert Donn
FACTOID #78
Now among California’s political luminaries, former ambassador Shirley Temple Black and Representative Nancy Pelosi both worked at the Festival in their days as civilians. Temple assisted in film selection in the mid-’60s and Pelosi planned Festival events in the ’70s.
