In 1962, Yann Le Masson filmed Algerian women activists speaking after their release from prison in France. More than fifty years later, as the soundtrack has disappeared, I set out in search of these women.

An investigative film that tells their silent story. An essay film about cinema that captures their disappearance — and keeps them alive forever.

في عام 1962، صوّر يان لو ماسون شهادات مناضلات جزائريات عند خروجهنّ من السجن في فرنسا. وبعد أكثر من خمسين عاماً، ومع اختفاء الشريط الصوتي، أنطلقُ في رحلة بحث عن هؤلاء النساء.

فيلمٌ تحقيقي يروي قصتهنّ الصامتة. وفيلمٌ تأمّلي عن السينما يوثّق غيابهنّ — ويُبقيهنّ حيّات إلى الأبد.

This screening is organized in the framework of :

Working with What Is There • Cinema Research Methodologies with Non-Film Sources
Symposium, screenings, talks
Beirut, 21–24 October 2026

Working with What Is There gathers contributors to present alternative approaches to cinema history informed by non-film sources. It invites to think and create with films as mutable objects of circulation between people, across generations and media, irrespective of their material survival as film copies.

Co-organized by Anaïs Farine and Philip Widmann, in cooperation with Orient-Institut Beirut, University of Zurich, American University of Beirut, Saint Joseph University Beirut, Metropolis Cinema, Arab Image Foundation

Contributors’ bios and more information: https://www.orient-institut.org/events/detail-event/working-with-what-is-there-cinema-research-methodologies-with-non-film-sources.html