Amazigh Cinema: An Introduction to North African Indigenous Film

An introduction to North African Indigenous cinema through a new understanding of the Amazigh homelands
Amazigh Cinema: An Introduction to North African Indigenous Film examines the emergence of Amazigh visual media in its historical and cultural contexts and engages in a decolonization of the studies of Amazigh expression. An exploration of film from across the Tamazgha or Amazigh homeland produced by and about Imazighen, Indigenous peoples historically referred to as ＂Berbers,＂ the book underscores the role of cinematic art in language preservation and the shaping of contemporary Amazigh identity against a backdrop of historical repression and exclusion. Opening up debate on the growing archive of Amazigh cinema for global audiences, this collection contrasts Amazigh production with national and global cinema and traces links between oral performance, amateur video, and feature films. These films expose fault lines in post-colonial belief systems and interrogate the tension between the pull of nostalgia and push for change as filmmakers use their cameras to re-establish a sense of presence and continuity in a changing world.
Resisting folklorization, Amazigh Cinema shows how Amazigh filmmakers engage multiple spectatorships in the everyday lives of rural and immigrant people who have overcome discrimination and cultural apathy using the ancient methods and modern tools at hand. Their use of visual mediums to craft new narratives of Amazigh life creates a space for all audiences to witness Indigenous lives and their strategies--and celebration-- of survival.

Lucy R. McNair is a literary translator of French and Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York. Her translations include the classic Algerian coming-of-age novel, The Poor Man’s Son, by Amazigh writer Mouloud Feraoun, the memoir To Hell and Back by Samira Bellil, plus many critical studies, creative essays, and poems by North African writers. She co-curates the New York Forum of Amazigh Film.
Yahya Laayouni is Associate Professor of Arabic Studies and French at the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania. He is an Amazigh native of Morocco and co-organizer of the New York Forum of Amazigh Film. His work on Amazigh Indigenous and Franco-Maghrebi cinema has appeared in the Journal of Religion and Film, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Muslim Popular Culture, and Jaddaliya.