THEY CALLED US “BEURETTES”

Bouchera, Aourdia, Dalila and Mina all grew up in Bobigny, in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, in the 1970s. They are part of the first generation of women of Northern African descent born in France, and where confronted head-on with the challenges of dual identity. Today, in response to the alarming rise of identity withdrawal, they decided to share their own stories.

As children, they were called “beurettes” (French slang for “Arab”). Growing up, they had to fight to find their place, as citizens in a France still maked by the Algerian war and as women, both within French society and within their own families.

Enriched with personal and collective archives, this documentary traces back the journey of these four women in their search of freedom and self-determination.