The Road Less Travelled…

Way back, in the 1800s, on the lands of Algiers (now Algeria), the French colonization had taken place. As the French took over the administration, there was a silent revolution that began to brew. The last resistance of the 19th century, known as the Mokrani Revolt, was the most popular uprising against the French. Supported by more than 250 tribes, a tribal leader from the Kabyle Tribe led the local uprising. His name was Omar ben Zamoum, son to the legendary Mohamed ben Zamoum (who led the resistance against the French invasion in Mitidja and Kabylia in 1830).

Fatma Zohra Zamoum is the grand daughter to the great Omar ben Zamoum.

With a freedom fighter’s blood in her veins, Fatma Zohra’s battles may have changed, but even after a hundred years of freedom, the struggles continue.

Born in Bordj Menaïel within Algeria, Fatma Zohra lost her father at a young age of 17. Being the eldest child in the family, she had two choices – to live a secure life by getting married or to pursue the path less travelled by following her heart. In normal circumstances, she would have chosen the former comfortable option. However, taking forward the lineage of her family, the ancestor El Hadj Mohamed ben Zamoum, chose to fight the battle. How-ever this time, her weapon was the Camera.

The Journey…

With a zeal to learn arts, Fatma Zohra went on to study Fine Arts in Algiers, and Art History and Cinema in France. She fell in love with the art of cinema while watching films made by some of the legendary filmmakers like Satayajit Ray, Sembene Ousmane, Brahim Tsaki, Mohamed Zinet, and others. “This is what I wanted to do! Tell stories!” ,she felt after meeting Med Hondo, Mrinal Sen, Billy Woodburry, Paul Leduc, etc., and interacting some master story tellers on screen.

Today, Fatma Zohra is a writer-director, producer and teacher of cinematic arts. Her films have explored the world through the film festivals. They have won accolades and been appreciated by audience world over without any barrier of language or geography. As a woman film maker, her challenges are many fold: lack of opportunities, limited funding and income from distribution, shortage of adept craftsmen and artisans, tons of paperwork, procedural delays, lack of specific laws from the fiscal administration, and lastly no support and encouragement from men in the same profession.Some orthodox cinematic critics just cannot relate to her movies or her position as a woman who can take decisions on technical aspects. But Fatma Zohra takes these blows on her chin. “I have read the book by Alan Sillitoe and seen the movie by Tony Richardson named “The loneliness of The Long Distance Runner”. I knew that my condition will be like the long distance runner rather than the sprint runner. I have to adopt to my path and breath for a long distance.”

Some of her past films like Parkour(s) and Azib Zamoum, a Story about Landand How Big Is Your Love, have traversed the world through film festivals and awards. Fatma Zohra hopes to continue making meaningful cinema and bring Algerian films on aglobal platform.

Fatma Zohra, the fighter, continues to inspire.