The exhibition "Une histoire du cinéma français : héritages maghrébins" at the Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration, housed in the Palais de la Porte-Dorée in Paris's 12th arrondissement, examines how French cinema has been shaped by artists of Maghrebi origin. It revisits sixty years of film production and narratives, from the 1960s to the present, within postcolonial France.
Among the figures it considers are Hafsia Herzi, Reda Kateb, Leïla Bekhti, Tahar Rahim, Isabelle Adjani, Samir Guesmi, Camelia Jordana and Abdellatif Kechiche, all familiar names in French cinema who also have Maghrebi origins—Algerian for most, and also Moroccan or Tunisian. The exhibition also looks at earlier figures such as actor Mohamed Zinet (1932-1995) and filmmaker Mehdi Charef (1952-2026), tracing individual paths while asking whether a collective story can be built from them.
Co-curator Clémentine Deroudille, who organized the show with Lucile Humbert Beldjoudi, said: "With this exhibition, we are weaving a story that has never been told. This is only the beginning; there will be other threads to pull." The exhibition opened on Saturday, October 31.
Sources: Le Monde Culture.