The Words Women Spoke One Day

In 1962, as the Algerian War concluded, filmmaker Yann Le Masson recorded Algerian independence activists upon their release from Rennes prison. The women filmed during that night shared their hopes for the future of Algeria and the role of women in its new society. Decades later, Raphaël Pillosio discovered that the soundtrack for this footage was missing. This documentary follows Pillosio as he searches for the women involved. To recover their lost words, two deaf individuals use lip-reading to identify fragments of the original conversations. The film functions as an investigation and an essay on cinema, allowing the surviving activists to reconnect with their past testimonies while acknowledging that the missing audio cannot be fully restored.

Directed and written by Raphaël Pillosio, who also served as a producer alongside Fabrice Marache, the film was produced by l’atelier documentaire in France. The cast features appearances by the activists themselves, including Zohra Drif-Bitat, Malika Ouzegane, Salima Sahraoui-Bouaziz, and Fatouma Kiouane, as well as Yann Le Masson and Cathy Aubry-Le Masson. Released on March 24, 2024, the history documentary has a runtime of 84 minutes.