Algiers - APS
The historical fiction "Fadhma N'soumer" of Algerian director Belkacem Hadjadj, dedicated to the heroine of the popular resistance in Kabylia in the early decades of French colonization, was presented Sunday in Algiers to the press. Lasting 96 minutes, this film focuses on the exceptional destiny of "Lalla Fadhma" portrayed by French -Lebanese actress Laëtitiea Eido, a young woman exiled from his native village after a forced marriage,-whose increasing spiritual and political influence will play a major role in the unification of the Kabyle tribes against the French occupier. This fiction is "supported" with "proven" historical facts, but the written sources on this great patriotic female figure remain "rare", as the director lamented. On a historical period from 1847 to 1857, the film, shot entirely in Kabyle language, also portrays activist Cherif Boubaghla (played by Franco-Moroccan Assad Bouab), a "foreign" hosted by one of the tribes of Kabylia before becoming a true warlord. Author of a dozen of films between TV movies, feature films and documentaries, Belkacem Hadjadj became known in 1995 with "Machaho" a two time awarded film at the Mediterranean Film Festival of Montpellier. Co-produced by the Algerian Agency for Culture and private production company "Machahou" (run by the filmmaker), "Fadhma N'soumer" is planned to be released in Algeria and France "in September," the director said.