Karin Albou

Karin Albou is a French director, screenwriter and actress.

Early life

Karin Albou was born on March 12, 1968[1]Neuilly-sur-Seine to Algerian immigrant parents. Her mother was only 16 when she was born.[2] Albou was raised in the Jewish faith. In 1999 she moved to Tunisia to settle down for one year. She went back to Paris and started her career as a filmmaker. She also started a career as a writer and published her first novel in 2010. ("La Grande Fête", édition Jacqueline Chambon. Translated in Italian : "La grande festa" Oedipus edizioni, traduzione di Maria Teresa Fiore

As a child, Karin Albou was always finding ways to be an artist; involved with dance and singing. After high school, Karin continued to study dance, but also studied Hebrew French and Arabic literature, English, drama and eventually enrolled in film school in Paris. She studied screening writing in Paris but discovered while taking classes at École Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle she wanted to be a director. After she graduated, she started her journey as a director with her first short film “Hush!” establishing the beginning of her remarkable career path.

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 Albou 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 was released in 2015. Albou also co-starred in the film as a woman in her 40s who becomes pregnant after a one-night stand with a former fling and who decides to try to make a go of it with the father of her future child.[6]

Karin Albou is a French-Algerian female director, writer, editor, producer and actress. Karin wrote and directed Aïd El Kebir, La petite Jérusalem (Little Jerusalem), Yasmine et la Révolution (Yasmine and the Revolution), Ma plus courte histoire d’amour (My Shortest Love Affair) – which she also produced, Le chant des mariées (The Wedding Song) and Corps de dame (Lady's Body).[7]

She is also an established actress, starring in her films[7] including Ma plus courte histoire d’amour (My Shortest Love Affair) as Louisa Witz, Le chant des mariées (The Wedding Song) as Tita and Corps de dame (Lady's Body) as a doctor.

Karin Albou was the second assistant editor for director David Rozenberg's 1994 for feature, Shortcomings (Carences).

Styles and themes

Karin Albou is a very distinct director, one of the ways to distinguish her is the themes in her films. Knowing 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[8] – French colonialism,[9] secret identity,[10] exile, assimilation,[11] and double diaspora.[12]

Karin explores and challenges the rules of religion and marriages. Karin directs My Shortest Love Affair with themes of love, sex and family values.[13] Her themes involve bringing intimate scenes of female spaces, tackling sexual dysfunction in marriage and uncovering how culture impacts the idea of romance.[14] Karin keeps these themes consistent in her films and portrays them with her unique film style. Her style focuses on the representation of women.[15] In The Wedding Song, the film style displays a lesbian, female, and Orientalist gaze.

Filmography

Short film
  • Hush (Chut) (1992)
  • Id El Kébir ( 1998)
Plot: In the east of Algeria, a dying father hopes to see his daughter married as the family gets ready for Aid El Kebir, the feast of the sacrifice. In the mournful atmosphere of sacrifice and Algeria in crisis, Hanifa must make a difficult choice of love.[16]
Cast: Soria Moufakkir, Fatiha Berber, Smaïl Mekki, Hichem Mesbah
  • The Innocent (L’Innocent) (2001)
Genre: TV short from Combats de femme
  • Lady's Body (Corps de dame) (2009)
Genre: TV short[7]
  • Yasmine and the revolution ( 2011)

Documentary
  • My country left me (1994)
Plot: The documentary explores the repercussions of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Many Jews from Tunisia, a former French colony, were forced to resettle in France, leading to the transformation of Judeo-Arabic culture from Tunisia to Paris. Karin explores the group's culture shock, recalling fondly of Tunisia, but also speaking of the pain of becoming outcasts in their own land. She interviewed young Jews who are as French as they are Tunisian, where they speak about the emergence of their identity in the mosaic of contemporary France. Through these intimate relationship Karin reveals a complex experience of exile and assimilation. A pilgrimage back to Tunisia uncovers the identification of three generations of Jews who continue to feel for the country left behind.[17]
Cast: Karin Albou, Moshe Chouri, Georges Nizan
  • Tunisian Autumn (2014)

Feature
Plot : After 20 years two former lovers run into each other in Paris. They spend an evening drinking wine and catching up which leads to the two sleeping together. Now Luisa is pregnant, and despite conflicts leading to repeated breakups the couple continue to work together to do the right thing for their child.[13]
Cast and Characters: Luisa is a played by Karin Albou. Luisa is a gorgeous Parisienne stuck at a manuscripting job she hates working for the most condescending boss. Charles is played by Patrick Mimoun. Charles is an accomplished professor at Columbia University. At first glance he is a handsome, charming and funny man, but the fact that he made his name writing about his sexual turn ons seems to have made him a prisoner.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
  • Adaptation of Daily Invasions (2016)

Actor

Short film

  • Corps de dame ( Dir: Karin Albou)
  • Jamais ensemble (Dir: Nadja Karek)

Feature

  • My shortest love affair (Dir: Karin Albou)
  • The wedding song ( Dir:Karin Albou)
Won best actress award in Bastia Film festival ArteMare

Awards, nominations, and festival screenings
Year Award Category Film Result
1992 Cinécinéma[18] Best First Film Chut Won
1999 Clermont - Ferrand International Short FIlm Festival[18] Best Short for National Film Competition Aïd El Kebir Won
2005 Beirut International Film Festival (BIFF)[19] 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[18] Little Jerusalem Won
2006 Cesar Awards[18] Best First Film Little Jerusalem Nominated
2006 Cesar Awards[18] French Academy Cesar Little Jerusalem Nominated
2007 Cesar Awards[18] Best First Film Little Jerusalem Nominated
2007 Jewish Film Festival Berlin[20] - Little Jerusalem Screened
2008 Young Directors Festival of Saint-Jean-De-Luz[18] Public Prize The Wedding Song Won
2008 Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival[18] Special Mention of the Jury The Wedding Song Won
2009 New York Jewish Film Festival[20] - The Wedding Song Screened
2009 Seattle International Film Festival[20] - The Wedding Song Screened
2012 International Images Film Festival, Harare[21] Best Film The Wedding Song Won
2012 International Images Film Festival, Harare[21] Best Depiction The Wedding Song Won
2012 International Images Film Festival, Harare[21] 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[21]

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. "Karin Albou". IMDb. Retrieved Apr 30, 2019.
  8. 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.
  9. Schoonover, Karl; Galt, Rosalind (2016). Queer Cinema in the World. Duke University Press. pp. 231–236. ISBN 978-0-8223-7367-4.
  10. Griffin, John (29 October 2005). "Secret identity, sumptuous film". The Gazette. Montreal, Que. p. D2. ProQuest 434250723.
  11. "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.
  12. Schwartz, Stephanie (2012). Double-Diaspora in the Literature and Film of Arab Jews (Thesis). University of Ottawa. ProQuest 1355763142.
  13. 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.
  14. Wilmington, Michael (5 May 2006). "'Jerusalem' puts cultures in opposition to romance". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 420477406.
  15. Al-Hossain, Haya Abdulrahman (2011). Feminist representations in North African cinema (Thesis). The George Washington University. pp. 168–169. ProQuest 861742163.
  16. 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.
  17. "My Country Left Me". sfjff.org. Retrieved Apr 30, 2019.
  18. "ADÉQUAT - Agence artistique, Paris". www.agence-adequat.com. Retrieved Apr 30, 2019.
  19. "2009: 9th Edition Awards". Retrieved Apr 30, 2019.
  20. "My Shortest Love Affair / Ma Plus Courte Histoire d'Amour". Retrieved Apr 30, 2019.
  21. "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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