Zohra
About Zohra
A young French woman is pulled from a shipwreck by Bedouins and lives with the tribe under the name Zohra. Bandits abduct her. A French aviator gets her back, and she is returned to her family. The film stops on tribal customs along the way.
Cast & crew
More about Zohra
Albert Samama Chikly directed and produced the 35mm short. His daughter Haydée Chikly wrote the script, edited the film, and plays Zohra. It was shown at the Omnia Pathé cinema in Tunis in 1922. It runs 35 minutes.
Themes
In film history
It is cited as the first film produced in North Africa by a local maker, rather than by a visiting European company.
Making
Chikly kept the production inside the family: he directed, his daughter wrote, cut, and starred. The screening house was the Omnia Pathé in Tunis.
Music
Silent, 35mm.
Preservation
A restored 35mm version survives. Wikimedia Commons holds Zohra Albert Samama-Chikli.webm.
Notes
- Haydée Chikly is also credited as Haydée Tamzali.
- It is described as the first indigenous North African film production.
- The girl is French, shipwrecked, and renamed by the people who take her in.
- The rescue at the end is by airplane, not by a column of troops.
- A restored copy is the one in circulation.
Scenes
- Bedouins pull the girl from the wreck and name her Zohra.
- Bandits take her out of the camp.
- A French aviator brings her back to her family.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Zohra Albert Samama-Chikli.webm)