Karin Albou

Karin Albou is a French-Algerian female director, writer, editor, producer and actress.

Early life

Karin Albou was born on March 12, 1968[1] in Neuilly-sur-Seine to Jewish Algerian immigrant parents. Her mother was only 16 when she was born.[2]

In 1999 she moved to Tunisia. A year later, she returned to Paris and started her career as a filmmaker and as a writer.

As a child, Albou was always involved with dance and singing. After high school, Karin continued to study dance, but also studied literature and drama, eventually enrolling in a film school in Paris. She studied screenwriting but discovered she wanted to be a director while taking classes at École Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle. After graduating, she released her first short film, Hush!.

Career

Albou made her feature film debut in 2005 with Little Jerusalem, which debuted at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival in the International Critics' Week. Despite being Albou's first feature film, she was disqualified from competing for the Camera d'Or, awarded to the best first film playing at the festival, because she had previously directed a made-for-TV movie.[3]

In 2008 Albou released her second feature film The Wedding Song, a Holocaust drama set in Tunisia in 1942 that was loosely inspired by letters Albou's paternal grandmother had sent to her husband during the war when he was sent to a labour camp.[4] The film played multiple Jewish festivals but failed to garner mainstream attention, something Albou attributed to the many scenes of graphic nudity in the film.[5] Albou's third feature film My Shortest Love Affair, which she co-starred in, was released in 2015.[6]

Styles and themes

Karin's heritage explains some of the themes she chooses to cover. Raised in the Jewish faith, Karin's films explore the lasting trauma of the Holocaust[7] – French colonialism,[8] secret identity,[9] exile, assimilation,[10] and double diaspora.[11]

The director also explores and challenges the rules of religion and marriage and the themes of love, sex and family values.[12] Her themes involve bringing intimate scenes of female spaces, tackling sexual dysfunction in marriage and uncovering how culture impacts the idea of romance.[13] Karin keeps these themes consistent in her films and portrays them with her unique film style. Her style focuses on the representation of women.[14] In The Wedding Song, the film style displays a lesbian, female, and Orientalist gaze.

Partial filmography

Feature films

Short films
  • Hush! (Chut!) (1992)
  • Id El Kébir (1998)[15]
  • The Innocent (L’Innocent) (2001 TV short)
  • Lady's Body (Corps de dame) (2009 TV short)
  • Yasmine and the revolution ( 2011)

Documentary films
  • My Country Left Me (1994)[16]
  • Tunisian Autumn (2014)

Feature films
  • My Shortest Love Affair (dir. Karin Albou)
  • The Wedding Song (dir Karin Albou)

Short films
  • Corps de dame

Awards, nominations, and festival screenings
Year Award Category Film Result
1992 Cinécinéma[17] Best First Film Chut Won
1999 Clermont - Ferrand International Short Film Festival[17] Best Short for National Film Competition Aïd El Kebir Won
2005 Beirut International Film Festival (BIFF)[18] Best Feature Little Jerusalem Won
2005 Crit Week at Cannes Film Festival Best Screenplay Little Jerusalem Won
2005 Crit Week at Cannes Film Festival Best Feature Little Jerusalem Nominated
2005 Deauville Festival Michel d’Ornano Award[17] Little Jerusalem Won
2006 Cesar Awards[17] Best First Film Little Jerusalem Nominated
2006 Cesar Awards[17] French Academy Cesar Little Jerusalem Nominated
2007 Cesar Awards[17] Best First Film Little Jerusalem Nominated
2007 Jewish Film Festival Berlin[19] - Little Jerusalem Screened
2008 Young Directors Festival of Saint-Jean-De-Luz[17] Public Prize The Wedding Song Won
2008 Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival[17] Special Mention of the Jury The Wedding Song Won
2009 New York Jewish Film Festival[19] - The Wedding Song Screened
2009 Seattle International Film Festival[19] - The Wedding Song Screened
2012 International Images Film Festival, Harare[20] Best Film The Wedding Song Won
2012 International Images Film Festival, Harare[20] Best Depiction The Wedding Song Won
2012 International Images Film Festival, Harare[20] Best Director The Wedding Song Won

The Wedding Song was nominated for 6 awards at the 10th edition of the International Images Film Festival, Harare[20]

Bibliography
  • Albou, Karin (2010). La Grande Fête (in French). ISBN 978-2-7427-9295-5. OCLC 658003771.

See also

References
  1. http://inter.pyramidefilms.com/pyramidefilms-international-catalogue/karin-albou.html in
  2. "Karin Albou". Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  3. "Camera d'Or disqualifies 3 directors". Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  4. Esther, John (6 November 2009). "EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: KARIN ALBOU". Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  5. Curiel, Jonathan (19 July 2009). "'Wedding Song' offers fresh take on feminity [sic]". SFGate.com. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  6. "My Shortest Love Affair". Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  7. Lechintan, Adela A (2011). Cinematic reverberations of historical trauma: Women's memories of the Holocaust and colonialism in contemporary French-language cinema (Thesis). The Ohio State University. p. 91. ProQuest 919704252.
  8. Schoonover, Karl; Galt, Rosalind (2016). Queer Cinema in the World. Duke University Press. pp. 231–236. ISBN 978-0-8223-7367-4.
  9. Griffin, John (29 October 2005). "Secret identity, sumptuous film". The Gazette. Montreal, Que. p. D2. ProQuest 434250723.
  10. "Writer, Director, Actress Karin Albou in Interview." Interview by Sharon Adler. Aviva-Berlin. May 15, 2009. https://www.aviva-berlin.de/aviva/content_Interviews.php?id=1425092.
  11. Schwartz, Stephanie (2012). Double-Diaspora in the Literature and Film of Arab Jews (Thesis). University of Ottawa. ProQuest 1355763142.
  12. Wilson, Josh (17 July 2015). "Love, sex and family values all a tangle in My Shortest Love Affair". The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California. pp. 17, 19. ProQuest 1779870367.
  13. Wilmington, Michael (5 May 2006). "'Jerusalem' puts cultures in opposition to romance". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 420477406.
  14. Al-Hossain, Haya Abdulrahman (2011). Feminist representations in North African cinema (Thesis). The George Washington University. pp. 168–169. ProQuest 861742163.
  15. Pallister, Janis L.; Hottell, Ruth A. (2005). "Albou, Karin (Algeria; Maghreb. Nationality: French". French-speaking Women Documentarians: A Guide. Peter Lang. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0-8204-7614-8.
  16. "My Country Left Me". sfjff.org. Retrieved Apr 30, 2019.
  17. "ADÉQUAT - Agence artistique, Paris". www.agence-adequat.com. Retrieved Apr 30, 2019.
  18. "2009: 9th Edition Awards". Retrieved Apr 30, 2019.
  19. "My Shortest Love Affair / Ma Plus Courte Histoire d'Amour". Retrieved Apr 30, 2019.
  20. "Namibian Premiere Of The Tunisian/French Film "The Wedding Song", Directed By Karin Albou, WED, 14 March 2012, 18:30h, FNCC - AfricAvenir International". www.africavenir.org. Retrieved Apr 30, 2019.

Further reading
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