“N’oubliez jamais qu’il suffira d’une crise politique, économique ou religieuse pour que les droits des femmes soient remis en question. Ces droits ne sont jamais acquis. Vous devez rester vigilantes votre vie durant.” - Simone de Beauvoir
Florence Martin
ProfessorFrench
Flo Martin is Dean John Blackford Van Meter Professor of French Transnational Studies. She holds a Doctorate from Université de la Sorbonne, Paris III, and has published articles and book chapters internationally on the blues, francophone literature and French and francophone cinema. Her recent work focuses on postcolonial cinema, the cinema of the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) and French and Francophone women’s films. Her publications have appeared in Canada, Egypt, France, Morocco, Cataluña, Tunisia, the UK, and the US. She regularly offers courses cross-listed with the Arabic and Communications programs.
Flo has designed and taught a variety of courses for the French Transnational Studies program at Goucher, including Introduction to French and Francophone Cinema (FR 353), Sub-Saharan Cinema (WL 360), Violence in Francophone African Texts, Writing around Secrets, French and Francophone Women Writers, The Child in Francophone Cinema (Special Topics FR 430 and 451) as well as Maghrebi Cinema (FR 451 cross-listed with COM 307).
Research, Scholarship, Creative Work in Progress
Book (forthcoming, 2024)
Transnational Moroccan Cinema: Politics, Aesthetics, Practice, Edinburgh. Co-edited with Will Higbee: University of Edinburgh Press, 2024.
Publications
Authored books
Florence Martin, Farida Benlyazid and Moroccan Cinema, Palgrave MacMillan, 2024.
This analysis of the work of Moroccan director, producer, and scriptwriter Farida Benlyazid, whose career extends from the beginning of cinema in independent Morocco to the present, provides a unique perspective on an under-represented cinema, the gender politics of cinema in Morocco, and the contribution of Arab women directors to global cinema and to a gendered understanding of Muslim ethics and aesthetics in film.
Co-authored with Will Higbee & Jamal Bahmad, Moroccan Cinema Uncut: Decentred Voices, Transnational Perspectives. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020.
Screens and Veils: Maghrebi Women’s Cinema. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana U. Press, 2011 (271 pp.)
Co-authored with Maryse Fauvel & Stéphanie Martin, A vous de voir! An introduction to French and francophone cinema. Paris: Casteilla, 2010 (160 pp.).
Co-authored with Favre, Isabelle, De la Guyane à la diaspora africaine. Paris: Éditions Karthala, 2002 (201 pp.).
Bessie Smith. Paris: Editions du Limon, 1994: Marseille: Parenthèses, 1996.
Co-edited volumes
French Historical Studies: Film, Television and History in the French-speaking World. Co-edited with Dr. Laura Mason. Studies in French History 46: 02, 2023 (171 pp.).
Transnational Crossings: Terrorism on Maghrebi Screens, a special issue of Studies in French Cinema. Co-edited with Dr. Maria Flood. 19: 03, 2019 (171-278).
Film and History: Excavating the Archive. Co-edited with Laura Mason (SFH special issue, forthcoming in 2023).
French and Francophone Cinema and Contestation, a special issue of Studies in French Cinema. Co-edited with Guy Austin. Vol. 13, No 3: November 2013 (92 pp.).
Les Cinémas du Maghreb. Co-edited with Kamel Benouanès & Patricia Caillé. Paris: Africultures, 2012 (344 pp.).
Most recent chapters
“Documenting the unseemly: Moroccan Women’s Documentaries in the 2000s,” in Suzanne Crosta, Sada Niang,and Alexie Tcheuyap, eds. Francophone African Women Documentary Filmmakers: Beyond Representation. Bloomington, Indiana U. Press, 2023: 10-33.
"The Daring Lyrics of Women Music Documentary Filmmakers in the Maghreb," Viola Shafik, ed. Documentary Filmmaking in the Middle East and North Africa, Cairo and New York: American U. Press, 2021: 329-334.
Co-authored with Patricia Caillé. “Women Directors in the Maghreb,” in James Neil, ed., Cinema -- Made in the Middle East & North Africa, LM Publishers, Volendam, Netherlands, 2018: 37-51.
Co-authored with P. Caillé, “Reel Bad Maghrebi Women”, in Nadia Yaqub, Rula Qawas, Elizabeth Bishop eds, Bad Girls in the Arab World. U. of Texas Press, 2017: 167-184.
“Trouble Everyday: The Neo-Colonialists Bite Back”, in Marjorie Vecchio, ed. The Films of Claire Denis: Intimacy on the Border. London: I.B. Tauris, 2014: 125-132.
“Cinema and State in Tunisia,” in Josef Gugler, ed. Film in the Middle East and North Africa: Creative Dissidence. Austin: U. of Texas press, 2011: 271-283.
“The Wiles of Maghrebi Women’s Cinema,” in Flavia Laviosa, ed. Visions of Struggle in Women’s Filmmaking in the Mediterranean. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2010: 23-41.
Most recent referred articles
“Arab Women’s Transnational Cinema’s ‘Flips’: The Man Who Sold His Skin (Ben Hania, 2021)”. Transnational Screens. Vol. 14, Issue No 2, 2023 : 117-131.
« Le transnationalisme dé-routant et nomadique des réalisatrices marocaines », Expressions Maghrébines : Le Cinéma maghrébin transnational, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2019 : 19-36.,
Co-authored with Will Higbee, « Adventures of a Transnational African Distributor : an interview with Izza Génini », Expressions Maghrébines : Le Cinéma maghrébin transnational, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2019: 37-46.
Co-authored with Will Higbee, « “Si le spectateur européen ne s'ouvre pas à nos films, il s’enferme” : an interview with Ahmed El Maânouni », Expressions Maghrébines : Le Cinéma maghrébin transnational, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2019: 113-125
“New Maghrebi Diasporic Film with an Amazigh Twist: Benamraoui’s Adios Carmen (2013)”, Mashriq wa Mahjar / Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies. Vol. 6, No 1, 2019: 60-82.
« Sexes, masques et vérités sur les écrans des Maghrébines », IEMed, Barcelona: AFKAR/IDEAS,
Spring 2018: 71-73.
“Cinéma-monde: De-orbiting Maghrebi cinema” Contemporary French Civilization, Vol. 41, No. 3-4, 2016: 461-476.
« Paroles et musiques: les audaces des documentaristes maghrébines », Diogène No. 245.1, 142-154. (May 2015)
“Farida Benlyazid and Juanita Narboni: Two Women from Tangier,” Black Camera, 6.1 2014: 124-138.
“The death of the Father in contemporary Tunisian film,” Masculinities in Egypt and the Arab World: Historical, Literary and Social Science Perspectives, a special issue of The Cairo Papers, 33.1, 2014: 89-101.
« Écran pour tous? Personnages gays dans trois films phares tunisiens », Africultures 96: Les Homosexualités en Afrique, Paris: L'Harmattan, 2014: 108-121.
Film Review
Honoré, Christophe, réal. Le lycéen. Int. Paul Kircher, Vincent Lacoste, Juliette Binoche. Memento, 2022. French Review 97.3 : 193.
Bouchareb, Rachid, real. Nos frangins. Int. Reda Kateb, Lyna Khoudri, Raphaël Personnaz, Le Pacte, 2022. French Review 97.4 : 187.
Alain Ughetto, réal. Interdit aux chiens et aux Italiens. Vivement lundi !, 70 min., France, Suisse, Italie, 2022. French Review 97.5 (forthcoming)
Film Review Essay
The impossible return: Return to Bollène by Saïd Hamich, 2018, Filmatique, 2019.
Challat of Tunis: Sexism, Lies and Computer Games in Tunisia, Filmatique, 2018.
External Awards, Honors, Grants
2015: International co-investigator on a 3-year AHRC grant from the UK to study Moroccan transnational cinema.
2014: Nominator for the Cinema Kyoto Prize 2015, Inamori Foundation, Japan.
2010: Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) grant, co-written with Dr. Patricia Caillé (U of Strasbourg) awarded to fund international academic colloquium “Les films du Maghreb” at the Tunis Film Festival.
Conference Papers & Panel Participation
March 2023: panelist, “Adventures on GIRL ISLAND: Sharing Sandy Stone’s Story”, Destitution and Power: The Trans Experience Conference, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.
December 2022: “Arab Women’s Transnational Film on ‘the Move’: Kaouther Ben Hania’s Man Who Sold His Skin (2021)”, MESA, Denver, CO.
April 2021: keynote address, “The incredible adventures of Moroccan Transnational Cinema, CRALL Conference, University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
March 2021: “Moroccan Cinema Uncut : a round table” with William Higbee, SCMS (on zoom).
January 2021: “Moroccan Cinema Uncut” with William Higbee, SOAS (UK) (on zoom).
January 2021: « Lamia Chraibi : parcours d’une productrice marocaine », A l’œuvre au cinéma : des femmes en Afrique et au Moyen Orient, HESCALE, U. Strasbourg. (France)
October 2020: Introduction to the film « Selma Baccar’s Fatma 75 » and Q&A after the film, Liberating History: Arab Feminisms and Mediated Pasts, Northwestern U and Block Museum, Chicago
November 2019: « De l’importance de numériser Une Porte sur le ciel (1988) », Université Abdelmalek Saadi, Tétouan-Martil, Morocco (via skype).
January 2019: “Documenting the unseemly: Moroccan Women’s Documentaries in the 2000s”, U of Victoria, Canada.
October 2018: co-presented “Moroccan cinema uncut: first conclusions”, “Morocco in motion: the global reach of Moroccan cinema”, Edinburgh (UK).
November 2017: « Transvergence et cosmopolitisme : Incendies de Wajdi Mouawad et de
Denis Villeneuve », Theatre Forms In Motion: Zones of Contact and Friction, International
Symposium, Tanger-Tétouan, Morocco.
October 2017: “Call-And-Response: a master class on Moroccan Music Documentaries”,
Africa in Motion International Film Festival, Edinburgh, UK.
March 2017: « Cinéma-monde et communauté imaginée: Mimosas (Oliver Laxe, 2016) et Bedwin Hacker (2003) » with Dr. I. Favre. NEMLA, Baltimore, MD.
September 2016: “Off the French grid: Moroccan cinema unplugged”, World Cinema and Television in French conference, U. of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.
May 2016: « Les tremblements du genre au cinéma maghrébin », CIEF, Dakar, Senegal.
April 2016: “Shoe string or no shoe string? The impact of Arab film festivals on Moroccan film production”, SCMS, Atlanta, GA.
September 2015: “Cinéma-monde: a Maghrebi case study”, Contemporary French Civilization Studies, Baltimore, MD.
April 2015: « Du nouveau dans le genre: le cinéma tunisien post 2011». New Perspectives in Franco- Maghrebi Cinema Conference, Hopkins U., Baltimore, MD.
February 2015: « Lire et dé-lire à l’aune des études postcoloniales ». 20th and 21st Century French and Francophone Studies, Baton Rouge, LA.
Academic or Professional Associations
Studies in French Cinema (UK)
Modern Languages Association (US)
Society for Cinema and Media Studies (US)
Other Professional or Scholarly Activity
Film Consultant
2020: Documentary on Sandy Stone, dir. Marii Vecchio.
Nov. 2017: Member of the film competition jury, International Film School Festival (FIDEC), in Tetouan, Morocco: Reflections on the 3rd International Film School Festival (FIDEC), Tetouan.
International Conference co-organizer
“Morocco in motion: the global reach of Moroccan cinema”, Edinburgh (UK), Oct 28-28, 2018 in the margins of the Africa in Motion African Film festival.
December 5-7, 2016: “Moroccan Cinema Uncut: local perspectives, transnational dialogues”, Marrakesh, Morocco.
June 2012: SFC conference (with Dr. Guy Austin): “Postcolonial Francophone Cinema and ontestation”, King’s College, London, June 14, 2012.
October 2010: « Les Cinémas du Maghreb et leurs publics dans le contexte arabo-africain » (with Patricia Caillé & Kamel Benouanès), JCC colloquium, Tunis, Tunisia.
April 2010: « Maghreb, des réalisatrices et leurs films » (with Patricia Caillé), St Denis, France.
Media Guest and Speaker
January 2015: interviewed by The Jewish Times, Baltimore: Nous Sommes Charlie.
January 2015: guest speaker on the Marc Steiner show on Charlie Hebdo massacre.
Spring 2014: guest speaker on TV broadcast - Jerry Carlson’s Citycinémathèque (CUNY TV)
October 2013: guest speaker on Marc Steiner show on the Arab world today
April 2011: guest speaker on Marc Steiner show on the Arab Spring
Blog and interviews
2016: Transnational Moroccan Cinema (under the auspices of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK)