Amazigh/Berber Film Festival
North Africa's Imazighen (Berbers):
Shared Cultures among Ethnic and Religious Diversity
Berman Room, Fromm Hall at the University of San Francisco
Free Event Open to the Public with RSVP
Friday
North Africa's Imazighen
Opening: Welcome and Introduction
Opening remarks setting out the aims of the day: what the festival hopes to bring into view about Amazigh history and culture, how the two parts of the program fit together, and practical notes for attendees.
Jewish and Muslim Imazighen (Berbers): Shared Cultural Heritage
A look at the long entanglement of Jewish and Muslim life in Amazigh regions — the languages, music, foodways, and pilgrimage traditions held in common — and at what the record of that coexistence looks like once communities were separated by emigration.
Berber and European Jewish Voices at the time of the creation of Israel
How North African Berber Jews and European Jews wrote and spoke about themselves around 1948 — two very different vantage points on migration, belonging, and homeland that are often flattened into a single story.
Q&A with Professors Levin and Mazuet
Both speakers take audience questions together, drawing the two morning talks into conversation across the Jewish and Muslim Amazigh material.
Feature Film: Fouroulou
Fouroulou (from Mouloud Feraoun's autobiographical novel Le Fils du pauvre or The Poor Man's Son) is a coming-of-age story about Menrad Fouroulou, a sensitive Kabyle boy in colonial Algeria, chronicling his journey from a traditional village to French education, navigating cultural clashes, poverty, and his evolving identity as he strives to become a teacher, offering a poignant look at Berber life under French rule, its hardships, and the search for belonging.
North African Lunch with Film & Q&A
Excerpts from The Citron: Fruit of Splendor, a short documentary by Izza Genini. In a deep valley of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas Mountains, the fruit of the citron tree has been cultivated by Souss Berbers for centuries, following the rules of perfection demanded by the Divine Law for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Feature Documentary: In Your Eyes I See My Country
In Your Eyes, I See My Country (original French title: Dans tes yeux, je vois mon pays) is a 2019 documentary following Israeli Judeo-Moroccan musicians Neta Elkayam and Amit Haï Cohen as they journey to Morocco to explore their ancestral roots, reconnecting with their heritage through music, encounters with locals, and performances, ultimately reshaping their understanding of their identity and shared history.
Panel Discussion with Mint Tea
Over mint tea, a conversation with Neta Elkayam about what it means to carry a Judeo-Moroccan musical inheritance into the present — performing in Moroccan Arabic and Amazigh idioms, and the reception that work has found on both sides of the Mediterranean. Audience questions welcome.
Who are the Sahrawis?
Feature Documentary: Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony
This is a documentary on the legal and humanitarian consequences of the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. Produced by Academy Award-winning actor Javier Bardem, it tells the story of this often-overlooked conflict, which has resulted in 170,000 Sahrawis forced to live in harsh desert refugee camps, the severe repression for those remaining under Moroccan rule, and the struggle at the United Nations and elsewhere to support the Western Saharan people's right to self-determination.
Discussion with Mint Tea: The Sahrawis' Struggle for Self-Determination
A discussion over mint tea of how Western Sahara became the last unresolved decolonization case on the UN agenda — the legal findings, the stalled referendum, and what the gap between international rulings and conditions on the ground means for the Sahrawis themselves. Followed by Q&A.
Historic Photographs: Colonial Photography of Berber Culture
A walk through historic photographs of Berber life made under colonial rule, and what they reveal about the photographers as much as their subjects — how staging, captioning, and circulation shaped the image of North Africa that reached European audiences. Followed by Q&A.
Closing Remarks & Cultural Reception
Closing thoughts drawing together the day's films and discussions, followed by a reception where the conversation continues over traditional North African food.
Terga Live Music
The evening closes with a live set from Terga, whose repertoire draws on the rhythms and vocal traditions of Amazigh music, with traditional food served throughout.
Berman Room, Fromm Hall
Located at the University of San Francisco, the Berman Room in Fromm Hall provides an intimate venue for film screenings, panel discussions, and cultural celebrations.
- University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
- Friday, January 30, 2026
- 10:00 AM - Evening