Safaa Fathy

Safaa Fathy (born July 17, 1958) is an Egyptian poet, documentary filmmaker, playwright, and essayist. She is best known for her film Derrida's Elsewhere, a documentary that focuses on the life and concepts of controversial philosopher Jacques Derrida. Fathy was born in Minya, Upper Egypt, on July 17, 1958. She studied English literature in Cairo. Fathy participated in the student movement while in Egypt but later left the country and settled in Paris in 1981. In 1987, she was an assistant director at the Deutsches Theater located in East Berlin. Fathy worked with Heiner Muller in 1990. She completed her doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne in 1993; her thesis was on Bertolt Brecht. Before becoming a filmmaker, Fathy worked as a stage director. Currently she serves as director of programme at the International College of Philosophy in Paris. In an interview that explores how Fathy uses film editing to construct her narrative, examining her choices in pacing, juxtaposition, and the use of archival footage or other visual elements, "Cutting" may also refer to the way Fathy confronts historical trauma and the fragmentation of memory. Revolution goes through walls, collection in Arabic, also published in English and French translations Al Haschiche (ISBN 9789689246138, a book of poetry accompanied by film-poem, Hidden Valley) bilingual Spanish-French, Ediciones sin nombre, Mexico; English-language edition, Pamenar Press. …où ne pas naître, bilingual collection in Arabic and French حيث لا نولد, published in a bilingual Arabic-English edition as Where Not to Be Born (Litmus Press, 2024) Ma langue est mon territoire, Collection Folies d’encre, Eden, Paris Anthology of Contemporary Arab Women Poets The book is about Derrida and Fathy's experience with film in general and their collaboration on Fathy's 1999 film D'Ailleurs, Derrida, released in English as Derrida's Elsewhere. "Contre-jour", the introduction is presented as a dialogue between the two authors, where they discuss the making of the film and reflect on the nature of cinema and language. They describe the film as a "short film in two voices," with each voice playing its own part and speaking for itself. They also acknowledge that their cooperation was not always harmonious, with disagreements and tensions arising during the filmmaking process. One of the key themes explored in "Contre-jour" is the relationship between cinema and language.