Selma Baccar or Salma Baccar (born December 15, 1945) is a Tunisian filmmaker, producer and politician. She is considered the first woman to make a featured length film in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

.Stefanie van de Peer, 'An encounter with the doyenne of Tunisian film, Selma Baccar', ''The Journal of North African Studies'', Vol. 16. No. 3, September 2011, pp.471-82. DOI: 10.1080/13629387.2010.527122 Baccar is known for creating

manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

s through her films, centered around women's rights in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

Early life

Selma Baccar was born on December 15, 1945, in

. Her family moved to Hammam-Lif when she was seven year old. Baccar was raised as a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

by her parents and has done the pilgrimage to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

with her family twice; however, Baccar identifies as

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...

. She began to study psychology in 1966 to 1968 in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland. She relocated after 2 years to study film in Paris at Institut Français de Cinéma. She then became a member of the Tunisian Federation of Amateur Filmmakers (Fédération Tunisienne des Cinéastes Amateurs, FTCA), where she worked as an assistant director for a Tunisian television series.

Career

At the age of 21, Baccar began to create short films in 1966, along with other women at the Hammam-Lif amateur film club. Her films revolve around women's issues and rights in Tunisia. Her first short film, made in 1966, was a black and white film called ''L'Eveil,'' that tackled women's liberation in Tunisia. ''L'Eveil'' later received accolades. Baccar directed her first full-length feature film in 1975 titled ''Fatma 75'', viewed as a "pioneer film" in Tunisia. This was the first full-length feature film directed by a woman and characterised as "a feminist essay film about women's roles in Tunisia." The film uses a

didactic Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasises instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is a conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to explain. ...

style film that addresses feminism in Tunisia and was banned for several years, due to censorship issues in multiple scenes, by the Tunisian Ministry of information, and could not be viewed in commercial movie theatres. Her second full length film, ''Habiba M’sika'' (1994), was a biopic of a famous Tunisian singer and dancer, Marguerite Habiba Msika. ''Flowers of Oblivion'' told the story of Zakia, an opium addict in a psychiatric hospital in Vichy-ruled Tunisia in the 1940s. The director owns her own production company under Intermedia Productions alongside other notable female directors, to make films and commercials. Baccar also has produced a number of short films. Baccar's activism for Tunisian women's rights led her to an active political career and she became a member of the Al Massar political party. In October 2011, Baccar was elected a member to the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

In 2014, she was promoted from vice-president to president of the parliamentary group of Democrats in Tunisia, "the first and only woman to chair a parliamentary bloc."

Filmography

Feature films

* 1976: ''Fatma 75'' * 1994: ''Habiba M’sika/La Danse du feu/The Dance of Fire'' * 2006: ''Knochkhach/La Fleur de l'oubli/The Flower of Oblivion'' * 2017: ''El Jaida''

Other Films

* 1966: ''L'Eveil'' (Director, short film) * 1985: ''De la toison au fil d'or/The Golden Fleece'' (director, short film) * 1989: ''Moon Child'' (Producer, short film) * 2010: ''Baydha (Tabou)'' (Producer) * 2016: ''Peluche'' (Producer)

Television series

* 1996: ''Le Secret des métiers'' * 1997: ''Femmes dans notre mémoire'' * 2002: ''Farhat Lamor'' (''Joie d'une vie'') * 2005: ''Chara Al Hobb'' * 2006: ''Nwassi w Ateb'' * 2006: ''Assrar âailya'' * 2007: ''Chaâbane fi Ramadhane'' * 2007: ''Kamanjet Sallema'' * 2007: ''Layali el bidh''

Awards

*1968 - ''L'Eveil'' (1966) received an award at the

Festival International du Film Amateur de Kélibia The Festival International du Film Amateur de Kélibia (FIFAK, ''International Amateur Film Festival of Kélibia'') is an annual international film festival for amateur filmmakers at Kélibia, Tunisia. It was founded in 1964 as the oldest film ev ...

and Sfax International Mediterranean Film Festival. * 1979 - ''Fatma 75'' (1976) won the Gold medal at the

International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg The Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (), often referred to by the German-language initialism IFFMH, is an annual film festival established in 1952 hosted jointly by the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg, the ...

. * 1990 - ''El niño de la luna'' (1989) was nominated at the

Goya Awards The Goya Awards () are Spain's main national annual film awards. They are presented by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain. The first ceremony was held in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Ar ...

for Best Production Manager Award (Mejor Dirección de Producción).

Honours

* 2014 : Knight of the National Order of Merit of Tunisia * 2015 : Officer of the Order of the Republic of Tunisia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baccar, Selma 1945 births Living people Tunisian women film directors Tunisian film directors Tunisian politicians Tunisian women in politics 21st-century Tunisian women politicians 20th-century Tunisian women Tunisian women's rights activists Mass media people from Tunis Politicians from Tunis Middle Eastern agnostics Tunisian former Muslims