Qui fait la France ? Reconstruire l'identité française dans Terre Mère de Louiza Benrezzak

This essay analyzes the ways in which Maghrebi-descended French filmmaker Louiza Benrezzak cinematically portrays, through an “accented style,” identity construction and her complex relationship with European society, culture and history in Terre Mère (2015). The film reflects issues of citizenship and belonging and fundamental human rights in both life and death. Benrezzzak’s authorial method is an innovative blending of the autobiographical and performative, of fiction and documentary.