Past Film/Video | Classics

The Zerda or the Songs of Forgetting

(La Zerda ou les chants de l’oubli, Assia Djebar, 1982, Algeria)

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Multiple well dressed women looking down.
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Mar 19, 2021–Mar 26, 2021
Online

STREAMS VIA EVENTIVE
(available only to audiences in the US)
Free for all audiences

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please contact Accessibility Manager Helyn Marshall at accessibility@wexarts.org or (614) 688–3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

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Only one of two films produced by trailblazing feminist Algerian author Assia Djebar, this award-winning documentary offers a poetic look at North Africa’s Zerda festival.

Assia Djebar (1936–2015) was one of the most prominent figures in North African literature, publishing a wealth of novels and essays highlighting the role of women in their twinned struggle against colonialism and patriarchy. Djebar took a 10-year-long hiatus from writing midway through this prolific career to produce two documentary films: The Nouba of the Women of Mount Chenoua (1977) and The Zerda or the Songs of Forgetting (1982).

The Zerda or the Songs of Forgetting is a multilayered, poetic essay film that recycles archival newsreels shot in the French colonies of North Africa. Out of these colonial artifacts, Djebar recuperates the history of the Zerda festival—a merrymaking tradition indigenous to North Africa—suggesting that the power and mysticism of this ceremony is obliterated by the voyeurism of the colonial gaze. Submitted to the 1983 Berlin International Film Festival, the documentary won the title for Best Historical Film. The original copy has since vanished, with this sole remaining copy restored and digitized by the Arsenal—Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin. In French and Arabic with English and German subtitles (60 mins., video).

Multiple well dressed women looking down.

Image courtesy of Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art

A french man in modern suit taking picture of an African man in his indigenous clothing.

Image courtesy of Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art

A young lady revealing her smile.

Image courtesy of Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art

Several people sitting and talking with a architectural landscape.

Image courtesy of Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art

Tag(s)

Organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts and curated by Ohio State History of Art graduate student Dareen Hussein and Film/Video Curatorial Assistant Layla Muchnik-Benali.

This series was made possible with support from the Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme Fellowship.

FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Cardinal Health
Kaufman Development

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation

WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council
Mary and C. Robert Kidder
L Brands Foundation
American Electric Power Foundation
The Columbus Foundation
Ohio Arts Council
Bill and Sheila Lambert
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Huntington
Nationwide Foundation
Adam Flatto
Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease
Arlene and Michael Weiss

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
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Axium Plastics
Fenwick & West LLP
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Ohio State Energy Partners
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Fuel Transport
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Matrix Psychological Services
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Discover More

Sepia tone mage of a woman facing the camera wearing a head scarf, braids, large hoop earrings and a cape from Assia Djebar's 1982 French documentary Zerda and the Songs of Forgetting
READ, WATCH & LISTEN | READ

Signs of Remembering: Dareen Hussein on Assia Djebar

Mon, Mar 08, 2021
Side-by-side images of individual young women from the respective documentaries Lettre à Ma Soeur and Elle
READ, WATCH & LISTEN | READ

Signs of Remembering: Layla Muchnik-Benali on Elles & Lettre à Ma Soeur

Mon, Mar 15, 2021
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Past Film/Video

The Zerda or the Songs of Forgetting

Mar 19, 2021–Mar 26, 2021
Thursday's Hours 10AM–8PM
Online

STREAMS VIA EVENTIVE
(available only to audiences in the US)
Free for all audiences

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please contact Accessibility Manager Helyn Marshall at accessibility@wexarts.org or (614) 688–3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.

Become a Member