Asmaa Khamlichi, the godmother of Ciné Donne in Bastia

BASTIA - Thought in a perspective of parity and equality that highlights women's cinema in its embellishment, creativity and constant struggles, the 2nd edition of Cine Donne, Women's Film Festival with a committed dimension blows a new wind in Bastia.

The Festival had invited the Moroccan actress Asmaa Khamlichi as its godmother from March 22 to 29.

By honoring the path of the Moroccan actress of the event, the team of Cine Donne has been sensitive to the filmography of Asmaa Khamlichi whose choices of film-events had contributed to promote women's rights in divorce or to the advancement of the adoption of the Moudawana (new family code unanimously adopted by the Moroccan Parliament in February 2004) such as Judgment of a Woman directed by Hassan Benjelloun in 2002 and The Story of a Rose by Majid R'Chich in 2000.

The team was very honoured to welcome Asmaa Khamlichi who succeeded as godmother to the actress and producer Julie Gayet in 2022, during the first edition. With a relevant selection, this festival with a female identity showcased over 18 feature films, 14 short films, conferences and an exhibition of paintings by the artist Arlette Schleifer which is held in parallel at the Gallery Black and White in Bastia until April 25. And, the broadcasting of the multi-primed film Qui chante là-bas? on Allindi, a Corsican streaming platform until May 13.

Beautiful subversive vigour

Affable, very surrounded by her audience from the Moroccan diaspora in Bastia, Khamlichi had exchanged at length after the many screenings at the festival.

"I am very honoured and touched to meet the Corsican and female public. The topics discussed are especially universal and depict current events," said the Moroccan actress at the entrance of the Cultural Center Alb'Oru.

Devoted to domestic violence, the short film Sous Tension (2022), directed by Mireille Fievet, aroused strong emotion.

"The heroine suffers harassment on a daily basis in the private sphere, this kind of film should help to free women's voices," said the Moroccan actress.

"It's the first time I've been to Bastia. From the outset, I was seduced by the quality of the programming of Cine Donne, the dynamism and commitment of this team of women led by Michèle Corrotti, also president of Arte mare, Mediterranean Film Festival in Bastia, whose strength and determination I appreciated," she added.

Allindi, a Corsican and Mediterranean platform in orbit

Allindi, which is dedicated to short films and production from the Mediterranean shore - Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, the Middle East and Corsica - will witness from April 13 to May 13 the streaming on its Corsican platform of thrilling films.

The woman, a unifying subject

Also noteworthy is the solo show of the painter and sculptor Arlette Schleifer at the Galerie Noir et Blanc, which runs until April 25.

An emblematic artist, Schleifer created and directed for many years the Galerie de l'Arcade in Paris, a mecca for artists of the Cobra movement, and has exhibited her work all over the world in the United States and Taiwan.

Finally, another highlight of this manifesto placed under the 7th art, the photographic exhibition that highlights female subjects, signed by the prisoners of the island.

"This exhibition appeared to me with a beautiful tolerance. It is a happy collaboration between the masculine and the feminine, the woman raises the man because she is not his enemy or his opponent. These photographs of female faces full of respect, in addition to being beautiful, were filled with sensitivity," concluded Khamlichi.