Yamina Bachir-Chouikh — Director | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Yamina Bachir-Chouikh (Arabic: يمينة بشير شويخ) was an Algerian film editor, screenwriter, and director born in Algiers on March 20, 1954, and died in the same city on April 3, 2022. She was married to director Mohamed Chouikh and was the mother of Yasmine Chouikh, also a director.

Yamina Bachir, her maiden name, began her career in film in 1973 by entering the National Center of Algerian Cinema, where she learned the various aspects of the profession. She initially worked as a script supervisor on two important Maghrebi films: "Omar Gatlato" (1976) by Merzak Allouache and "Vent de Sable" (1982) by Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina. She subsequently devoted herself to editing most of Mohammed Chouikh's films, whom she would later marry: "The Citadel" (1989), "Youcef or the Legend of the Seventh Sleeper" (1993), "The Desert Ark" (1997), "Women's Village" (2005), and also for Okacha Touita with "The Cry of Men" (1994).

Her first film as a director, "Rachida" (2002), deals with the difficult years of the "Black Decade" in Algeria. It garnered international acclaim and was presented at numerous festivals, including the 2002 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, the Marseille International Film Festival (Miroirs et Cinémas d'Afrique), and the London International Film Festival, where it won an award. "Rachida" is a film dedicated to her brother Mohamed, who was murdered by terrorists during the "Black Decade" in Algeria. “I wrote the screenplay for this film to escape depression. Some actors refused to be in it, and I understand their reaction. For several roles, I cast non-professionals. For me, it was important to survive the violence and the madness,” she confided.

In 2010, she dedicated a documentary of over an hour, “Yesterday... Today and Tomorrow,” to the involvement of Algerian women during the Algerian War.

She passed away on April 3, 2022, in Algiers, after a long illness.

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