Movie: The Zerda or the Songs of Forgetting

  • HomePage

    La Zerda ou les chants de l'oubli

  • Overview

    “La Zerda and the songs of oblivion” (1982) is one of only two films made by the Algerian novelist Assia Djebar, with “La Nouba des femmes du mont Chenoua” (1977). Powerful poetic essay based on archives, in which Assia Djebar – in collaboration with the poet Malek Alloula and the composer Ahmed Essyad – deconstructs the French colonial propaganda of the Pathé-Gaumont newsreels from 1912 to 1942, to reveal the signs of revolt among the subjugated North African population. Through the reassembly of these propaganda images, Djebar recovers the history of the Zerda ceremonies, suggesting that the power and mysticism of this tradition were obliterated and erased by the predatory voyeurism of the colonial gaze. This very gaze is thus subverted and a hidden tradition of resistance and struggle is revealed, against any exoticizing and orientalist temptation.

  • Release Date

    1983-02-27

  • Average

    7.6

  • Rating:

    3.8 starts
  • Tagline

  • Genres

  • Languages:

    العربيةFrançais
  • Keywords

Recommendations Movies

Avatar
59%

Avatar(es)

2006-04-11

Tension mounts between a quadraplegic man and his wife as she prepares a bath for him.

Flow
97%

Flow(xx)

2005-01-01

Eight woman, one life. Short animation by Sumito Sakakibara. The 9th Japan Media Art Festival Animation Division Grand Prize Winner

Battle of Blood Island
48%

Battle of Blood Island(en)

1960-04-08

Two American GIs are the only survivors of a unit wiped out in a battle with Japanese troops on an isolated island. The two, who don't like each other, find try to put aside their differences in order to evade the Japanese and survive.

Suck It Up
60%

Suck It Up(en)

2017-01-23

Ronnie lost her brother. Faye lost her first love. These two best friends set off on a debaucherous road trip to the mountains to get over the death of the man they both loved.

Gunpowder
59%

Gunpowder(ru)

1985-03-25

At the end of September 1941, Soviet artillery troops in besieged Leningrad realize that pretty soon they will fire their last shot, and after that the defense of the city will be doomed. The film is based on a true event: a small group of fearless soldiers transported a large supply of gunpowder through enemy lines to Leningrad.

Re-Births
74%

Re-Births(fr)

2017-12-01

A documentary film depicting five intimate portraits of migrants who fled their country of origin to seek refuge in France and find a space of freedom where they can fully experience their sexuality and their sexual identity: Giovanna, woman transgender of Colombian origin, Roman, Russian transgender man, Cate, Ugandan lesbian mother, Yi Chen, young Chinese gay man…

ABC
49%

ABC(sv)

2013-01-26

16-year-old girls Alma and Bea had managed to lure the middle-aged football coach Carl into a changing room at the football club. They got him where they wanted. He wanted to see them naked. They wanted to see him suffer. They shouldn’t have done that, or should they?

Tomie: Rebirth
72%

Tomie: Rebirth(ja)

2001-03-24

Young art student Hideo paints an unnerving portrait of Tomie, who whispers that she loves him. Inexplicably, he reacts by stabbing her to death with a painting trowel. Two friends, Takumi and Shunichi, arrive on the scene and help him dispose of the body. To cheer him up, the boys take the unwitting murderer to the nearest bar for a party... but a mysterious girl named Tomie shows up, bearing a few odd physical resemblances to the dead girl in the ground.

Avatar Spirits
79%

Avatar Spirits(en)

2010-06-22

Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, co-creators of the hit television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, reflect on the creation of the masterful series.

Sesame Street: The Letter of the Month Club
60%

Sesame Street: The Letter of the Month Club(en)

2010-06-01

Telly has joined the Letter of the Month Club and is excited! Vinnie begins delivering Telly's letters, but they take over Hooper's store where Alan is preparing for a birthday party.

Toot That Trumpet
50%

Toot That Trumpet(en)

1941-02-20

The Deep River Boys sing an exciting version of Toot that Trumpet (1941), staged as a club setting with lots of dancers, Chinese paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling and a lively trumpet player.

Pennies
66%

Pennies(en)

2006-10-20

The story of Charlotte Brown,a waitress and young single mother who will do anything for her daughter Jenny, and when push comes to shove, she does. With a menacing figure on the other end of the phone and a time limit of two hours,she must raise enough money to ensure that she sees the smiling face of her child again. Charlotte's customers are her only hope. The clock is ticking as we see the desperate young mother dealing with one eccentric customer after the next, displaying her charming vulnerability and inspiring strength through all the chaos. With her feet firmly planted on the ground, Charlotte maintains her focus and attempts to beat the clock and save the day.

Hollywood Hotel
54%

Hollywood Hotel(en)

1938-01-15

After losing a coveted role in an upcoming film to another actress, screen queen Mona Marshall (Lola Lane) protests by refusing to appear at her current movie's premiere. Her agent discovers struggling actress Virginia Stanton (Rosemary Lane) -- an exact match for Mona -- and sends her to the premiere instead, with young musician Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell). After various mishaps, including a case of mistaken identity, Ronnie and Virginia struggle to find success in Hollywood.

Work
38%

Work(en)

1997-10-01

In an economically struggling small town, Jenny, a young married woman, begins an affair with June, her college-bound, African-American neighbor.

Necromantic
60%

Necromantic(en)

2020-04-14

A novice teenage witch attempts to woo the love of her life with a love potion, but when things spiral out of control, more twisted measures are taken to win her heart.

Father Son Exchange
100%

Father Son Exchange(zh)

2020-10-07

Kuberaa
73%

Kuberaa(te)

2025-06-19

A ruthless billionaire, Neeraj, uses beggars as benamis to launder money, with the help of a disgraced civil submit servant, Deepak. One of the beggars, Deva, escapes with ₹10,000 crores and becomes the target of a deadly manhunt. He meets Sameera, who joins him in his mission to use the money to uplift society's poor. With Deepak's help, Deva fights back.

Similar Movies

Still Life
50%

Still Life(fr)

2013-10-02

A short companion to Leviathan, set inside the fishing vessel.

Blazing Men
47%

Blazing Men(ja)

1990-05-29

A hospital in the suburbs of Tokyo. This is a gay hospital. Doctor Goto treats his favorite patient with all his heart, and even takes care of his lower body. On the other hand, he was a bit of a troubled man who gave SM treatment to patients he didn't like...

Am I OK?
63%

Am I OK?(en)

2024-06-11

Lucy and Jane have been best friends for most of their lives and think they know everything there is to know about each other. But when Jane announces she's moving to London, Lucy reveals a long-held secret. As Jane tries to help Lucy, their friendship is thrown into chaos.

Kings County
100%

Kings County(en)

2003-06-12

When four teenage drug dealers and their boss violate the altar of a crack addicted Santeria prophetess, their lives become unhinged when she predicts one of them will die and one of them will be incarcerated within a day.

Hello Goodbye
0%

Hello Goodbye(id)

2012-10-09

Two people meet by chance in Busan, South Korea. Indah works at the Indonesian Embassy in Busan. Abi, a sailor who suffers heart attack and Indah was assigned as his guardian. Although their backgrounds are different, they learn from each other.

Papillon
78%

Papillon(en)

1973-12-16

A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.

Only Human
62%

Only Human(en)

2004-07-09

Leni takes Rafi to meet her family in Madrid. Leni's family is Jewish - mother, father, older sister and daughter, brother, and grandfather. Rafi is Palestinian, in Spain since age 12. Before her father returns from work, Leni reveals Rafi's origins. He accidentally drops a block of frozen soup out the flat window, probably killing a passerby. Leni initiates a cover-up and Rafi figures out the body is probably Leni's father. The body disappears and without telling the rest of the family what they know, Leni and Rafi organize a search for dad. Mom is sure he's having an affair. Leni's belly-dancing sister kisses Rafi. Her brother grabs a rifle to shoot the Arab. Can anything be put right?

Kiss of Life
46%

Kiss of Life(en)

2003-12-12

Helen lives in London with her father and her kids. John, her husband, is an aid-worker in Eastern Europe. He has been gone many months. Helen is desperately anxious that he should come home. Taking the kids to school one morning, she is killed in a car accident. She remains caught in limbo, trapped between life and death. Many miles away, in war-torn Eastern Europe, John is unaware that his wife has died. As Helen herself is unaware that she is dead. Thus begins, a four-day Odyssey: Grandpa and the kids must come to terms with Helen's death; John must travel across a war-torn land as he tries to reach home; and Helen must stand helplessly observing her own existence as it comes back to haunt her - until at last she is reconciled with John, and thus released.

Adele and Everything After
0%

Adele and Everything After(en)

2017-04-06

The moving story of a lonely, isolated woman with a heart condition whose life is transformed by a service dog, and what happens when she has to let go of the loyal companion who changed her life.

Worst Case, We Get Married
63%

Worst Case, We Get Married(fr)

2017-09-15

Aïcha is a troubled teenage girl who cannot forgive her mother for kicking out the stepfather she adored. Aïcha longs for him to come back and take her away. When she meets Baz, a man twice her age, it’s love at first sight for her; the real kind, the one that hurts. Baz wants to help this lost little girl, but she wants much more from him, and is ready to do anything to get it.

Kessler's Lab
30%

Kessler's Lab(en)

2017-02-05

Kessler's lab was created to run drug trials to determine what went wrong with a once popular mood stabilizing drug. Dr. Martin Kessler cloned his own daughter, who died from the drug. Once with ten test subjects, he and Dr Josephine Vanderhill are now left with only a few dying, sick clones, and one healthy placebo, Jenny. Daniel Powell runs the day to day operations and tends to the clones, administering the very drug that is killing them. When Dr. Kessler unexpectedly dies, instead of shutting down the facility, Dr Vanderhill wants to intensify the testing. She targets Jenny, and convinces Daniel to administer the pills in highly concentrated doses, sure to be fatal. Now conflicted, Daniel is determined to stop her and save the clones.

Out of State
58%

Out of State(en)

2017-11-04

Out of State is the unlikely story of native Hawaiians men discovering their native culture as prisoners in the desert of Arizona, 3,000 miles, and across the ocean, from their island home.

Naked Acts
54%

Naked Acts(en)

1998-09-25

An aspiring actress has lost considerable weight to land her first movie role, but what the director didn’t tell her was that it includes a nude scene. Reluctant to do it, she embarks on a personal journey that unveils secrets once hidden under her weight, as she discovers emotional nudity is just as revealing as taking her clothes off.

Worth: The Testimony of Johnny St. James
27%

Worth: The Testimony of Johnny St. James(en)

2012-11-07

Johnny St. James was a young seminary student who lost his wife to a drunk driver. With his reason for living gone, John lost his faith and turned to alcohol. Ten years later, John is finally read to get his life back on track. With his best friend Hickey ('Eric Roberts') in tow John attends his first AA meeting. He soon finds that his road to recovery tested when he runs into the man who ran down his wife.

Daddy I Do
70%

Daddy I Do(en)

2010-01-14

The Purity Ball symbolizes a father's protection over his daughter's virginity, but how does this reflect in the choices she makes, understanding her sexuality, and knowing her worth as a woman? This documentary examines the effects of Abstinence-Only Programs versus Comprehensive Sex Education in schools and what society can do to help lower teen pregnancies, abortions, and STDS, as well as poverty and sexual abuse.

Split: Portrait of a Drag Queen
10%

Split: Portrait of a Drag Queen(en)

1993-09-03

A documentary portrait of International Chrysis, a New York “show girl” and drag queen. Surreal herself, Chrysis was one of Salvador Dali’s inner circle, a woman from the waist up, a man from the waist down.

Dry Cleaning
54%

Dry Cleaning(fr)

1997-09-24

A bored couple takes in a young man who turns their lives inside out.

Rosenstrasse
63%

Rosenstrasse(de)

2003-09-18

When Ruth's husband dies in New York, in 2000, she imposes strict Jewish mourning, which puzzles her children. A stranger comes to the house - Ruth's cousin - with a picture of Ruth, age 8, in Berlin, with a woman the cousin says helped Ruth escape. Hannah, Ruth's daughter engaged to a gentile, goes to Berlin to find the woman, Lena Fisher, now 90. Posing as a journalist investigating intermarriage, Hannah interviews Lena who tells the story of a week in 1943 when the Jewish husbands of Aryan women were detained in a building on Rosenstrasse. The women gather daily for word of their husbands. The film goes back and forth to tell Ruth and Lena's story. How will it affect Hannah?

Actresses
50%

Actresses(fr)

2007-12-26

Marcelline is an actress. Forty, single and childless, she begins rehearsals for Turgenev’s A Month in the Country. Denis, the director, admires her greatly and promises he’ll make her happy on stage — she will shine. But things don’t go to plan.