The Glass Ceiling

Yamina Benguigui is a Film producer and director. She was born in Lille (North France) on 9 April 1957. She has dual Algerian and French nationality.

She began her career as an assistant to Jean Daniel Pollet (French director) where she stayed for 4 years.
She then jointly created the “Bandits” production company with Rachid Bouchareb. They worked together on Baton Rouge in 1995 . They have gone on to make a series of award winning documentaries “Memoire d’immigres”, La Maison de Kate – a place of hope, Un jour pour l’Algerie, 9/3 Memoire d’un territoire, and many others.

Yamina Benguigi has consecrated her life to making films to the memory and question of immigration of those who come from the Magreb countries of Northern Africa. Favorising the representation of minorities of the television is one of the missions that Yasmina Benguigi has given herself. She has made films such as 9/3 which was shown on french TV station CanalPlus, the film which is dedicated to Zyed and Bouna who died in an electrical substation in Clichy sous Bois in November 2005, the film is their story.

Yasmina Benguigi is a deputy mayor of Paris in charge of the rights of people and against discrimination. She has recently been honoured at the la Rochelle Festival for her telefilm Aïcha about a candidate for the french Star Academy programme and finally she has just bought the cinema rights for the “Moi Tituba, sorcière” book by Maryse Condé. —African Success