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Malek Alloula

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Malek Alloula

Born November 13, 1937 · Oran, Algeria

Died February 17, 2015 · aged 77

Malek Alloula (مالك علولة), born November 13, 1937 in Oran and died February 17, 2015 in Berlin, is a Franco-Algerian writer in French who pursued editorial activities in Paris from 1967. In December 1953, Father Alloula, auxiliary mounted gendarme, retired after 27 years of service. He leaves the village of Oranie where he spent 11 years of his last assignment and takes his family to Oran. The A…

Known For

The Zerda or the Songs of ForgettingThe Zerda or the Songs of Forgetting · 1983
The Zerda or the Songs of Forgetting
★ 8.11983
MovieDramaDocumentary
“La Zerda and the songs of oblivion” (1982) is one of only two films made by the Algerian novelist Assia Djebar, with “La Nouba des femmes du mont Chenoua” (1977). Powerful poetic essay based on archives, in which Assia Djebar – in collaboration with the poet Malek Alloula and the composer Ahmed Essyad – deconstructs the French colonial propaganda of the Pathé-Gaumont newsreels from 1912 to 1942, to reveal the signs of revolt among the subjugated North African population. Through the reassembly of these propaganda images, Djebar recovers the history of the Zerda ceremonies, suggesting that the power and mysticism of this tradition were obliterated and erased by the predatory voyeurism of the colonial gaze. This very gaze is thus subverted and a hidden tradition of resistance and struggle is revealed, against any exoticizing and orientalist temptation.

Filmography

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The Zerda or the Songs of ForgettingThe Zerda or the Songs of Forgetting · 1983
The Zerda or the Songs of Forgetting
★ 8.11983
MovieDramaDocumentary
“La Zerda and the songs of oblivion” (1982) is one of only two films made by the Algerian novelist Assia Djebar, with “La Nouba des femmes du mont Chenoua” (1977). Powerful poetic essay based on archives, in which Assia Djebar – in collaboration with the poet Malek Alloula and the composer Ahmed Essyad – deconstructs the French colonial propaganda of the Pathé-Gaumont newsreels from 1912 to 1942, to reveal the signs of revolt among the subjugated North African population. Through the reassembly of these propaganda images, Djebar recovers the history of the Zerda ceremonies, suggesting that the power and mysticism of this tradition were obliterated and erased by the predatory voyeurism of the colonial gaze. This very gaze is thus subverted and a hidden tradition of resistance and struggle is revealed, against any exoticizing and orientalist temptation.

Writer