Safaa Fathy

Safaa Fathy
صفاء فتحي
Born	(1958-07-17) July 17, 1958 (age 66) Minya, Egypt
Nationality	Egyptian
Website	http://safaafathy.org/en/

Safaa Fathy is an Egyptian poet, documentary filmmaker, playwright, and essayist. She is best known for her film Derrida's Elsewhere, a documentary which focuses on the life and concepts of controversial philosopher Jacques Derrida.

Early life and career

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.^[1] She completed her doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne in 1993;^[2] her thesis was on Bertolt Brecht. Before becoming a filmmaker, Fathy worked as a stage director.^[1]

Currently she serves as director of programme at the International College of Philosophy in Paris.^[2]

Selected works

Poetry

Collections

Revolution goes through walls, collection in Arabic, also published in English and French translations
A name to the sea
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
Little Wooden Dolls

حيث لا نولد, published in a bilingual Arabic-English edition as Where Not to Be Born (Litmus Press, 2024)

In collective volumes

Ma langue est mon territoire, Collection Folies d’encre, Eden, Paris
Anthology of Contemporary Arab Women Poets^[3]

Theatre

Ordalie ; Terreur (2004, ISBN 9782872823796)

Books

Tourner les mots with Jacques Derrida^[4]

Essays and other writings

On philosophy and politics

L’aporie of lui in Derrida à Coimbra. Palimage Editores, Coimbra, Portugal. 2006
Un(e) spectre nommé(e) « avenir » in Cahiers de l’Herne on Jacques Derrida. 2005
Derrida, metteur en scène ou acteur Magazine Littéraire, N° 430. 2004
Transparence du Halal, transgression du Haram Vacarme, 2002

On poetry, theatre, cinema

hôra/Luz y desierto. Revelación de lo oscuro (Spanish, 2010)
Hisser les voiles: Odyssée féminine à travers la Méditerranée. Microfisuras, 1999*
Dissidences et dissonances. Cartographie d'une poésie égyptienne. Almadraba (revue), Seville. 1998
Exil, in Pour Rushdie, La Découverte, Paris. 1993

Selected filmography

Documentary

Mohammad sauvé des eaux (Mohammad Saved from the Waters), TS production, Paris
Dardasha Socotra, UNESCO, government of Yemen.
D'ailleurs, Derrida, Arte, France
Maxime Rodinson : l'Athée des Dieux (Maxime Rodinson, Atheist of the Gods), France
Ghazeia, danseuses d'Egypte (Ghazeia, Egyptian Dancers), Canal plus, France
Hidden Faces

Fiction

Nom à la mer, film-poem, text Safaa Fathy, read by Jacques Derrida ^[5]
Silence, short fiction, Mention spéciale du Jury, Rencontres de Digne-les-Bains 1997, prime à la qualité CNC
Doisneau

References

^ ^a ^b Hillauer, Rebecca (2005). Encyclopedia of Arab women filmmakers. Cairo, Egypt: American University in Cairo Press. pp. 72–80. ISBN 9789774162688.
^ ^a ^b "Safaa Fathy". Safaa Fathy. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
^ Handal, Nathalie (2001). The poetry of Arab women : a contemporary anthology. New York: Interlink Books. ISBN 9781566563741.
^ Derrida, Jacques; Fathy, Safaa (2000). Tourner les mots : au bord d'un film. Paris. ISBN 9782718605401.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Cavitch, Max (2021). Specters of Translation: Jacques Derrida, Safaa Fathy, and Nom à la mer. Oxford Literary Review 43.2: 209-48.

External links

Safaa Fathy at IMDb
Safaa Fathy in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Safaa Fathy at Allocine. (French)
Review of Derrida's Elsewhere, Reginald Lilly, The French Review, Vol. 77, No. 2 (Dec., 2003)