Lucy R. McNair and Yahya Laayouni, eds., Amazigh Cinema: An Introduction to North African Indigenous Film, University of Regina Press, 2025, 368pp., $89 (hardcover), ISBN 978-1779400420.

Reviewed by Abdelaziz El Amrani
Abdelmalek Essaadi University (UAE), Tetouan, Morocco  

Since the early 1960s, Cultural Studies has played a pivotal role in empowering marginalized communities, particularly within Western contexts. Grounded in the critique of dominant ideologies and cultural hegemony, its theoretical frameworks, along with Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies, have worked to dismantle the epistemic foundations of empire and advocate for the recognition of silenced voices. In North Africa, however, and in Morocco specifically, limited infrastructure for translation and academic dissemination of these insights resulted in a delay of this effect. Key texts in Cultural and Postcolonial Studies were not translated into Arabic until the early 2000s, gradually entering the region’s intellectual and activist discourses. For Amazigh activists, these translations provided more than scholarly knowledge; they offered a language of resistance and a framework for cultural affirmation. They renewed efforts to reclaim Amazigh identity, challenge Arabization, and advocate for the institutional recognition of linguistic and cultural rights. It is important to recall that Amazigh language and identity were systematically marginalized in the North African national imaginary from the 1960s through the 1990s, often as part of a broader reaction against the legacy of French colonialism. 

In addition to serving as analytical paradigms, Cultural, Postcolonial, and Decolonial Studies have been instruments of mobilization, enabling historically excluded communities to speak and project their voices to dominant power structures to command cultural visibility. Lucy R. McNair and Yahya Laayouni’s Amazigh Cinema: An Introduction to North African Indigenous Film emerges from this evolving terrain of cultural affirmation and intellectual decolonization. As the first English-language volume dedicated to Amazigh visual media, the book makes a significant contribution to recentering North African Indigenous perspectives. Through a series of well-researched and interdisciplinary chapters, it situates Amazigh cinema at the intersection of activism, identity, and aesthetic innovation, demonstrating how the camera has become a vital tool for expressing Amazigh experiences, contesting historical erasure, and envisioning alternative futures. 

Published by the University of Regina Press in Canada, the book comprises eleven chapters, including a preface and an introductory folktale. Chapter One, by the editors, is titled “Ancient Modes, Modern Means: An Introduction to Contemporary Amazigh Cinema.” It situates  Amazigh cinema within the broader political, linguistic, and cultural struggles of North Africa. The editors provide a valuable overview of how Amazigh filmmakers have embraced the cinematic medium for artistic expression and as a powerful tool to reclaim erased histories, confront marginalization, and reassert Indigenous identity in the postcolonial Maghreb. A key insight of the chapter is the convergence of ancient oral traditions with contemporary cinematic techniques, which together shape the distinctive aesthetic and narrative strategies of Amazigh visual storytelling.

Chapter Two, “Theorizing Amazigh Cinema,” by Daniela Merolla, lays out a much-needed theoretical framework for understanding Amazigh cinema. Drawing from Indigenous media S     tudies, memory studies, and postcolonial critique, Merolla insists on seeing Amazigh cinema not merely as a regional or folkloric product but as a form of cultural resistance and aesthetic intervention. Her chapter is particularly valuable for anchoring Amazigh cinema in global conversations on minority representation and media politics. In Chapter Three, Fazia Aïtel contributes a sharp critique titled “Women through the Male Gaze in Amazigh Film from Algeria.” She interrogates how Amazigh women have been portrayed in Algerian cinema, often being reduced to symbols of cultural authenticity or domestic virtue. Aïtel calls for a shift toward female agency in both filmmaking and representation, arguing that the male-dominated industry must give way to more inclusive narratives that reflect women’s lived experiences.

Chapter Four, “Moroccan Amazigh-Speaking Cinema: From Amateurism to Professionalism,” by Mohamed El Bouayadi, traces the historical development of Amazigh film production in Morocco. El Bouayadi documents the grassroots beginnings of this cinema, often shot with minimal resources, and he highlights its gradual professionalization. He provides a rich account of the challenges faced by filmmakers, including linguistic suppression, lack of funding, and limited distribution, while also recognizing the community-driven passion that sustains the industry. In Chapter Five, titled “Towards a New Amazigh Activist Film in Tunisia,” Soubeika Bahri explores the emerging scene of Amazigh cinema in Tunisia, a country where Amazigh identity has been particularly silenced. Bahri shows how recent films have challenged this invisibility, especially in the wake of the Arab Spring. The chapter demonstrates how activist filmmakers use cinema to rearticulate indigenous presence and push back against state-imposed narratives of Arab homogeneity.

Chapter Six, “Widening the Scope: Conceptualizing the Indigenous Media in the Amazigh-YouTubea,” by Brahim El Guabli, brings an innovative perspective by analyzing digital media practices among Amazigh creators. Coining the term “Amazigh-YouTubea,” El Guabli argues that platforms like YouTube have become important tools for grassroots cultural production, especially among younger generations. His analysis is a timely reminder of how digital technologies are reshaping indigenous self-expression and bypassing traditional gatekeepers. Chapter Seven, co-authored by Sheila Petty and Brahim Benbouazza, offers a close reading of the documentary Tinghir-Jerusalem in a chapter titled “Echoes from the Mellah as Road ‘Memory Film.’” The film revisits the intertwined Jewish and Amazigh past in Morocco by blending personal narrative with historical exploration. The authors frame the work as a “memory film” that traverses space and time, reanimating silenced multicultural histories through cinema. 

In Chapter Eight, “The Dynamics of the Gaze in Mohamed El Badaoui’s Solei-Man,” Said Chemlal examines how the film challenges dominant modes of looking, particularly in the context of migration and marginalization. The protagonist’s inner struggle is rendered through a sensitive visual language, resisting exoticization. Chemlal argues that the film reclaims the gaze, allowing the Amazigh subject to be seen on his own terms. Chapter Nine, written by Keziah M. Poole and entitled “‘Do I Have to Be a Woman?’: Renegotiating the Feminine in Narjiss Nejjar’s Dry Eyes,” examines gender performativity in Narjiss Nejjar’s film Dry Eyes. Poole explores how the film interrogates traditional gender roles and presents a fluid, queer-inflected vision of femininity. This chapter stands out for its bold engagement with issues of identity, queerness, and the body in a North African cinematic context.

In Chapter Ten, “Global Trajectories, Localized Stories: Amazigh Filmmaking through the Eyes of Selected Filmmakers,” Habiba Boumlik presents insights drawn from interviews with Amazigh filmmakers. She discusses how these artists navigate local realities and global film markets, striving to tell culturally specific stories while engaging broader audiences. Boumlik’s chapter effectively captures the hybrid positionality of Amazigh filmmakers who move between different worlds without losing their rootedness. The final chapter is titled “Through the Festival Lens,” and is a conclusion by the editors, who reflect on the role of film festivals in promoting Amazigh cinema internationally. Focusing on the New York Forum of Amazigh Film (NYFAF), they highlight how such platforms serve as critical spaces for visibility, dialogue, and solidarity. The chapter underscores that Amazigh cinema is not only produced but also curated, celebrated, and theorized, linking local struggles with global cultural circuits. 

Amazigh Cinema: An Introduction to North African Indigenous Film is a groundbreaking edited volume that exemplifies the current resurgence of scholarly interest in minority and indigenous cultural production through decolonial and cultural studies lenses. As the first English-language study of Amazigh (Berber) filmmaking, it fills a notable gap in Anglophone scholarship. The collection’s strength lies in its dual contribution of theoretical framework and primary analysis. It situates the emergence of Amazigh visual media in a historical and cultural context while actively engaging in decolonizing Amazigh artistic expression. In doing so, the volume addresses issues of linguistic erasure and cultural marginalization head-on, underscoring the role of cinema in preserving Tamazight and reasserting Amazigh identity against a backdrop of historical repression and exclusion.

Through a diverse set of analytically rich essays, Lucy R. McNair and Yahya Laayouni´s Amazigh Cinema: An Introduction to North African Indigenous Film illustrates how Amazigh filmmakers turn film into a mode of indigenous resistance. The essays show these directors resisting folklorization and the commodification of their culture, and instead using the camera to craft new narratives that reclaim indigenous presence, agency, and survival strategies. By illuminating the “fault lines in postcolonial belief systems” and highlighting Amazigh cinema as an Indigenous counterpublic that formulates oppositional interpretations of history and identity, Amazigh Cinema provides both rich theoretical insight and substantive case studies.

In conclusion, the work by McNair and Laayouni not only broadens the field of Amazigh and North African film Studies but also serves as a significant decolonial contribution to cultural and media scholarship. It provides a detailed examination of how film can address linguistic and cultural erasure while empowering marginalized indigenous voices. This volume is both a tribute to the rich artistic heritage of the Amazigh people and a formidable challenge to the nationalist ideologies that have historically stifled cultural and linguistic diversity in North Africa. Consequently, this book is an essential resource for scholars and students involved in Cultural Studies, Postcolonial and Decolonial Theory, Indigenous Studies, and North African Studies.