The Woman I Never Called Mum (Celle à qui je n'ai jamais dit maman)
Qumra Projects
/ Feature Documentary / Algeria, France, Qatar
In Arabic, French
Rated: This film has not been rated.
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Synopsis
Because I was born out of wedlock, my birth was kept secret initially. I was raised by my aunt in France until I was 10. Then I was taken back to Algeria. I thought it was only for the summer, but I was to live there for five years with my mother and grandmother. Then I was sent back to France when I was 15. From then on, my relationship with my mother became one of letter-writing across land and sea. It went on for years until Skype replaced our correspondence. While my mother has lived like a prisoner in her apartment in Oran, I have lived wherever I decide—with or without a residence permit.
To make this film, I will move back into my mother’s apartment for a few months. Here, where she has lived since her teens, I film our relationship. Our communication seeks to strike a balance between her voice, which wavers, and mine, which sometimes takes up too much room. I parse my memories of the few years we lived together. And I relive that difficult time when I was an unhappy child who rejected her. My project is that she should finally tell me about her life, her secret pregnancy in Algiers, and why she chose separation. As an artist, I want to rewrite our fragmented story using letters, old photographs and my personal film archives.