Selma Baccar

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Selma Baccar
BornDecember 15, 1945
Tunis
Occupation(s)filmmaker, producer and politician.
Notable workFatma 75

Selma Baccar or Salma Baccar (born December 15, 1945) is a Tunisian filmmaker, producer and politician. She is considered the first woman to make a featured length film in Tunis.[1][2] Baccar is known for creating manifestos through her films, centered around women's rights in Tunisia.[1]

Early life[edit]

Selma Baccar was born on December 15, 1945, in Tunis. Her family moved to Hammam-Lif when she was seven year old.[1] Baccar was raised as a Muslim by her parents and has done the pilgrimage to Mecca with her family twice; however, Baccar identifies as agnostic.[1] She began to study psychology in 1966 to 1968 in Lausanne, Switzerland. She relocated after 2 years to study film in Paris at Institut Francais de Cinema.[3] She then became a member of the Tunisian Federation of Amateur Filmmakers, where she worked as an assistant director for a Tunisian television series.[3][1]

Career[edit]

At the age of 21, Baccar began to create short films in 1966, along with other women at the Hammam-Lif amateur film club.[1] Her films revolve around women's issues and rights in Tunisia. Her first short film, made in 1966, was a black and white film called L'Eveil, that tackled women's liberation in Tunisia. L'Eveil later received accolades. Baccar directed her first full-length feature film in 1975 titled Fatma 75, this film is considered to be a "pioneer film" in Tunisia.[4] This was the first full-length feature film directed by a woman. Fatma 75, "a feminist essay film about women's roles in Tunisia."[5] The film uses a didactic style film that addresses feminism in Tunisia.[1] The film was banned for several years, due to censorship issues in multiple scenes, by the Tunisian Ministry of information, and was unable to be viewed in commercial movie theatres.[3] Her second full length film, Habiba M’sika (1994), was a biopic of a famous Tunisian singer and dancer, Marguerite Habiba Msika.[3] Flowers of Oblivion told the story of Zakia, an opium addict in a psychiatric hospital in Vichy-ruled Tunisia in the 1940s.[2] The director owns her own production company under Intermedia Productions alongside other notable female directors, to make films and commercials.[3] Baccar also has produced a number of short films.[6]

Baccar's activism for Tunisian women's rights lead her to an active political career; where she became a member of the Al Massar political party.[7] In October 2011, Baccar was elected as a member to the Constituent Assembly[8] In 2014, Baccar became the president of the parliamentary group of Democrats in Tunisia. Baccar was vice-president of the Democratic group, she became "the first and only woman to chair a parliamentary bloc."[7]

Filmography[edit]

Featured films[edit]

  • 1976: Fatma 75
  • 1994: Habiba M’sika/La Danse du feu/The Dance of Fire
  • 2006: Knochkhach/La Fleur de l'oubli/The Flower of Oblivion
  • 2017: El Jaida[9]

Other Films

  • 1966: L'Eveil (director) (short film)
  • 1985: De la toison au fil d'or/The Golden Fleece (director) (short film)
  • 1989: Moon Child (Producer) (short film)[9]
  • 2010: Baydha (Tabou) (Producer)
  • 2016: Peluche (Producer)

Television series[edit]

  • 1996: Le Secret des métiers
  • 1997 : Femmes dans notre mémoire
  • 2002 : Farhat Lamor (Joie d'une vie)
  • 2005 : Chara Al Hobb
  • 2006 : Nwassi w Ateb
  • 2006 : Assrar âailya
  • 2007 : Chaâbane fi Ramadhane
  • 2007 : Kamanjet Sallema
  • 2007 : Layali el bidh

Awards[edit]

  • In 1968, L'Eveil, received an award at the Kelibia and Sfax film festivals.[3]
  • In 1979, Fatma 75, won the Gold medal at the Mannhiem Film Festival.[3]

Honours[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Stefanie van de Peer, 'An encounter with the doyenne of Tunisian film, Selma Baccar', The Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 16. No. 3, September 2011, pp.471-82. DOI: 10.1080/13629387.2010.527122
  2. ^ a b Florence Martin (2011). "Selma Baccar's Transvergent Spectatorship: Flower of Oblivion (Tunisia, 2006)". Screens and Veils: Maghrebi Women's Cinema. Indiana University Press. pp. 183–209. ISBN 978-0-253-00565-6.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Rebecca Hillauer (2005). Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers. American Univ in Cairo Press. pp. 375–. ISBN 978-977-424-943-3.
  4. ^ Peer, Stefanie Van de (2012-10-01). "A transnational feminist rereading of post-Third Cinema theory: The case of Maghreb documentary". Journal of African Cinemas. 4 (2): 175–189. doi:10.1386/jac.4.2.175_1. ISSN 1754-9221.
  5. ^ Stefanie Van de Peer (2017). "Chapter 3. Selma Baccar: Non-fiction in Tunisisa, the land of fictions". Negotiating Dissidence: The Pioneering Women of Arab Documentary. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-2338-0.
  6. ^ "Selma Baccar: "La cultura es el arma más poderosa contra el terrorismo y el integrismo"". 20 Minutos. October 23, 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Tunisie – ANC : Salma Baccar nouvelle présidente du bloc démocratique". www.tunisienumerique.com (in French). Retrieved 2018-10-19.
  8. ^ Lilia Labidi (2016). "Political, aesthetic, and ethical positions of Tunisian women artists, 2011-2013". In Andrea Khalil (ed.). Gender, Women and the Arab Spring. Routledge. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-317-59916-6.
  9. ^ a b "Selma Baccar". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
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