Yamina Benguigui

Yamina Benguigui (born in Lille on 9 April 1955) is a French film director and politician of Algerian descent. She is known for her films on gender issues in the North African (both Berbers and Arabs) immigrant community in France.

Benguigui's parents were Algerian and immigrated to France from Algeria in the early 1950s. She never discovered why her parents decided to leave Algeria, saying the subject was considered taboo. Born in Lille, Benguigui was the eldest daughter of six children and spent her childhood in northern France. Describing herself as a quiet child who grew up in the Islamic tradition, Benguigui was only 13 years old when she first decided to become a filmmaker.

Her father was a political leader in the Algerian National Movement, and was jailed in France for three years as a political prisoner (she has also stated that he was jailed on two separate occasions, and that her whole family was once under house arrest). Because he did not support her in her chosen profession, Benguigui broke off contact with him early on, only to reconnect with him in late 2001. After she left the family her mother divorced her father as well. Yamina Benguigui married a Jewish pied-noir and has two daughters.

Earning her baccalaureate and going on to study at film school, Benguigui then collaborated with French director Jean-Daniel Pollet. Later Benguigui founded "Bandit Productions" with director Rachid Bouchareb. In 1994 her documentary Femmes d'Islam was broadcast on France 2, but subsequently she decided that she would prefer to examine the immigrant experience in France rather than life in Algeria.

Her next documentary, Mémoires d'immigrés, l'héritage maghrébin, cost 50 million francs and was the result of 350 interviews conducted with immigrants across France. After a two-year period of preparation and another nine months of editing it was first shown in May 1997 on Canal+. Receiving positive reviews from critics, it was rebroadcast the following month and brought to theaters the following January.

As of February 2008 Benguigui was working on a film entitled Le paradis, c'est complet!, starring Isabelle Adjani.

In the French municipal elections of March 2008 Benguigui was elected to represent the 20th arrondissement of Paris on the Paris city council, where she concerned herself in particular with human rights and the fight against discrimination. She is associated with the Socialist Party.

On 16 May 2012 President François Hollande of France appointed her to the post of Junior Minister for French Nationals Abroad and Relations with La Francophonie (French-speaking countries worldwide) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On June 21, 2012, Yamina Benguigui has been confirmed as Minister for la Francophonie in the French Government.

On June 30, 2012, The French President Francois Hollande asked Yamina Benguigui to succeed to Former French Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin as his authorized representative for the OIF

• 1994: Femmes d'Islam
• 1997: Mémoires d'immigrés, l'héritage maghrébin (Immigrant Memories) – Director
• 2001: Pimprenelle, in Pas d'histoires! (Don't Make Trouble!) – Director and writer
• 2001: Inch'Allah Dimanche (Inch'Allah Sunday) – Director and writer
• 2003: Aïcha, Mohamed, Chaïb… Engagés pour la France)
• 2004: Le Plafond de verre (The Glass Ceiling) – Director and writer
• 2006: Les Défricheurs – Director
• 2007: Changer de regard - Portrait n° 5 – Director

• ^ "Yamina Benguigui". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
• Arnaud, Alexandra (2003-09-27). "Chez moi, la France" (in French). l'Humanité. Archived from the original on May 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 
• "The Tournées Festival: Le Plafond de Verre". French American Cultural Exchange. Retrieved 2008-04-12. 
• "Yamina Benguigui". uniFrance. Retrieved 2008-04-12. 

Mémoires d'immigrés, l'héritage maghrébin

• Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels, Michel Mitrani prize
• San Francisco International Film Festival, Golden Gate Award
• 7 d'Or, Best Documentary (1997)

Inch'Allah Dimanche

• Amiens International Film Festival, OCIC Award and Prize of the City of Amiens (2001)
• Bordeaux International Festival of Women in Cinema, Audience Award and Golden Wave (2001)
• Cairo International Film Festival, Golden Pyramid (2001)
• International Film Festival of Marrakech, Golden Star (2001)
• Toronto International Film Festival, International Critics' Award (FIPRESCI) (2001)

• ^ "Awards for Yamina Benguigui". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-04-11. 

• 2002: Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
• 2003: Chevallier of the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur
• 2003: Il Sigillo della Pace Price in Florence, for Lifetime Achievement.
• 2007: Officier of the National Order of Merit

• Promotion du 14 juillet, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, communiqué du Ministère de la Culture, 15 juillet 2002, sur le site du Ministère de la Culture.
• Décret du 11 juillet 2003 portant promotion et nomination à l'ordre national de la Légion d'honneur, JORF n°161, 13 juillet 2003, p.11943, texte n°3, Système NOR PREX0306732D, sur Légifrance.
• "XXV Festival di CINEMA e DONNE "Eva & Eva" - Firenze - Sigillo della Pace".