“In Mansourah, You Separated Us” Screening and Director Discussion
Join us for a screening of the film, In Mansourah, You Separated Us, and a discussion with the film’s director and MAAS alumna, Dorothée-Myriam Kellou moderated by Prof. Judith Tucker.
About the Film
In Mansourah, You Separated Us tells the story of the more than 2.3 million Algerians forcibly displaced by the French military during the Algerian War of Independence. It starts off seeming like a father-daughter story, as French filmmaker Dorothée-Myriam Kellou accompanies her father, Malek, on his return home to the village of Mansourah, Algeria for the first time since his childhood. Malek places a framed photo of his mother on a stack of boxes in his abandoned childhood home, and shares memories—including of the time he was nearly killed by a flare set off by the French military.
During the Algerian war of independence, Mansourah was one of thousands of communities the colonial French rulers turned into resettlement camps for the more than 2.3 million Algerians forcibly displaced by the French military. The story of these deportations remains largely unknown, both in France and among younger generations of Algerians.
In Mansourah, You Separated Us shows the ongoing effects of this cruel policy, as Malek and Dorothée-Myriam visit people in the region with vivid recollections of the events. Malek serves as guide and translator for the viewers and his daughter, who does not speak Arabic and is shocked by the silence surrounding the deportations. In Mansourah, You Separated Us helps to break that silence. This film sheds light on a largely silenced, yet essential part of Algerian-French colonial history.
The film is in French and Arabic with English subtitles.
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This event is made possible in part thanks to a Title VI grant from the US Department of Education for CCAS as a National Resource Center on the Middle East and North Africa.