Instagram story viewer> @mia_bendream> Tagged

mia_bendream

@mia_bendream

undefined

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

MAGMA, the debut feature documentary by French-Algerian filmmaker Mia Bendrimia, will have its MENA premiere at the 47th Cairo International Film Festival (11–20 November 2026), competing in Horizons of Arab Cinema and for the Best Documentary Film Award.

The film follows Bendrimia as she uncovers her Algerian family’s ties to both sides of the War of Independence, exploring the silences around the colonial past and how they pass between generations.

MAGMA won the Grand Jury Award in the International First Feature Competition at Sheffield DocFest in June. Bendrimia, who lived in Cairo for two years, will attend the festival to present the film.

3

5

Jali Film Weekender welcomes our lineup of international filmmakers and artists joining us in Edinburgh in two weeks! Catch them at screenings, Q&As, masterclasses and discussions throughout the festival.

⭐️Opening the Festival, DEAR AJAYI writer, director and producer @damiorimogunje, alongside cast member @bimboakintola and producers @ajahenene and @mradetoro, will join from Nigeria for the film’s UK premiere on 28 October.

THE WOMAN WHO POKED THE LEOPARD producer @rosiemotene joins from South Africa for its UK premiere on 29 October, in partnership with @scottishdocinstitute.

Angolan filmmaker @eryclaver from @geracao80 will lead a masterclass on 29 October, and will take part in Q&A sessions for the collective’s films throughout the festival as part of our Spotlight programme.

THE TROPIC SUN AND HIS EYES writer, director and producer @eliseethecinephile will take part in a Q&A following the UK premiere on 29 October.

MAGMA director @mia_bendream will join for its Scottish premiere on 1 November, @simoneholland.mkv for the UK Premiere of short film GLASS BRICKS on 31 October + many more speakers and guests 💫

More info & link to tickets in bio.

With support from @screenscots @filmhubscotland & @fcgulbenkian.

#JaliFilmWeekender

56

3

Programme Highlight 🤎MAGMA (dir. @mia_bendream )

Sun 1 Nov, 15:30 @filmhouse_edinburgh

Spanning Algeria and France, ‘Magma’ follows Mia as she sets out to understand how colonialism tore her family apart. The deeper she digs, the more contradictions she finds, with each revelation raising new questions rather than settling old ones. What begins as an investigation into family taboos opens out into something far more personal and complex, as buried histories collide with the life she’s living now.

Link to tickets in bio.

With support from @screenscots & @filmhubscotland

#JaliFilmWeekender

3

6

MAGMA fait sa première en France !

Après sa première mondiale au Sheffield DocFest, où il a remporté le Grand Prix du Jury de la compétition internationale des premiers longs métrages, MAGMA fera sa première française au Festival Le Grand Bivouac, à Albertville, dans le cadre de la compétition internationale.

Deux projections sont prévues :

📍 Vendredi 16 octobre à 13h30
Théâtre de Maistre

📍 Samedi 17 octobre à 10h
Collège et Lycée Jean Moulin

Nous sommes très heureuse de pouvoir enfin partager le film avec le public français. À très bientôt à Albertville ! 🩵

🎟️ Informations et réservations : https://www.grandbivouac.com/evenement/1803-le_magma.html#seances

118

8

A film’s journey, from thought to screen, is quite long.
Here’s a tiny bit of that magic with more on Mia Bendrimia’s ‘Magma’.

22

1

Let's head back to school by educating ourselves about these new Film Fatales members...

📕 Alice Voena (@alice.voena) is a filmmaker & multifaceted artist. Her art primarily questions the absurdity of life and focuses on the connection that people hold with identity, mortality, and one's own body.

📙 Sienna McLean-LoGreco (@sienna__mcl) calls on her bi-racial/cross-cultural personal experience & identity to hold safe and inclusive spaces and engage in conversations around social inequity and racialized trauma. Her first short film STILL REVOLUTIONARIES premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was lauded at festivals worldwide and continues to be distributed internationally. The 2024 HBO doc-series, JERROD CARMICHAEL: REALITY SHOW was noted as one of the best TV shows of the year. Sienna has been involved in promoting documentary films addressing issues of race & equality as a catalyst for community dialogue for many years.

📗 Mia Bendrimia (@magma_documentary)is a French-Algerian filmmaker and producer. Her debut feature documentary, MAGMA, explores the silences and conflicting memories inherited from French colonial rule in Algeria through an intimate investigation within her own family. Developed with the support of several international programmes, the film had its world premiere at Sheffield DocFest in 2026, where it won the Grand Jury Award in the International First Feature Competition. Mia is currently developing her next film, COLONIZATioN IS NOT A LOVE STORY, an archival documentary drawing on colonial archives.

📘 Haley Watson (@haleylwatson) premiered SONGS OF BLACK FOLK at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. Her 2024 debut at Tribeca, the short documentary MOTORCYLE MARY was acquired by ESPN Films for its acclaimed 30 for 30 series and is currently nominated for an Emmy. Earlier in her career, Watson originated the story concept for THE QUEEN OF BASKETBALL, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. She began her filmmaking journey in the camera department, earning recognition from AFI’s Cinematography Intensive for Women and the ASC Vision Mentorship Program.

#FilmFatales #WelcomeWednesday #NewMembers

12

0

MAGMA through the eyes of its first audiences. 👀

Here are some of the Letterboxd reviews written after our world premiere at @sheffdocfest . Thank you for your thoughtful words, and for all the little orange hearts.🧡

58

3

Since we first began pitching MAGMA, something has kept happening.

Whenever we showed excerpts from the film, people would come and speak to us afterwards. Some laughed, some cried (some did both), and many began telling us about their own families.

Some said the film made them want to ask their relatives questions. Others regretted not having done so when they still had the chance.

Their stories were all different, but many touched on colonisation, exile or migration; on living between two worlds and missing family; on searching for stories that had never been passed down, and living with the questions those silences had left behind.

At @sheffdocfest , we shared the full film with an audience for the first time. Here are a few of the conversations that followed.

We are very grateful to everyone who spoke to us so openly and trusted us with part of their story. Sharing something so personal and then listening to others share their own experiences has been one of the most meaningful parts of making this film.

106

2

A few weeks ago, MAGMA won the Grand Jury Award in the International First Feature Competition at @sheffdocfest .
It was the very first time we shared the film with the world, and we couldn’t have dreamed of a warmer welcome.
A huge thank you to the entire Sheffield DocFest team for making space for MAGMA, believing in the film, and welcoming us with such warmth and care. Special thanks to @raulninoz , @mita.suri , @kumekumar , and everyone behind the scenes who made those few days so unforgettable.
Thank you to the jury, Paul Sng, Darren Lawford and Malikkha Rollins for this incredible recognition and for championing the film. We were deeply honored by their words.
Sheffield was also my very first Q&A as a filmmaker. I couldn’t have wished for a better person to share that moment with than @robin_hoohood . Thank you for your thoughtful questions and for making me feel at home on that stage.
We met extraordinary filmmakers, old friends @mharperarts and new friends. We left inspired, hopeful, and incredibly proud to represent the SWANA region alongside with other amazing award-winning filmmakers @janayboulos @abd_alkader_habak @wafamoustafa @waadalkateab 🫶🏼
We still find ourselves thinking about the warmth of the audiences, the conversations that continued long after the screenings, and the feeling of finally sharing a film that had lived with us for so many years.
Thank you to everyone who came to the screenings, to everyone who has accompanied MAGMA over the past few years @yaniskoussim @xhayatyx , and to those who travelled all the way to Sheffield to be by our side: @khadidja_benouataf , @jsh.gr and my mom <3
Special thanks to @leo_kocha for imortalizing these moments through your beautiful photographs.
And finally, my deepest thanks to @skkira , for carrying this film through every high and every low. For never letting go, even when everything felt uncertain. For your endless generosity, your courage, and your unwavering belief in what this film could become. There is no MAGMA without you.

333

29

Part two: As the dust settles following #SheffDocFest2026, check out the documentaries that chimed most with our attendees!

Here’s part two of the Top 20 films, as voted for by our audiences:

⚡ The Archivist
⚡ All Rivers Spill Their Stories To The Sea
⚡ Magma
⚡ WOLF
⚡ Jesy Nelson: Life Changing
⚡ Filthy
⚡ SKYCLIMBER - Scaling The Eiffel Tower
⚡ American Doctor
⚡ TCB - The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing
⚡ Landscapes of Memory

And that concludes our Top 20 Films 🌟

What were your faves at the fest? Let us know below - and look out for these docs as they make their way to other festivals, cinemas and online.

#SheffDocFest #SheffDocFest2026 #DocumentaryFilm #documentaryfestival

185

13

Un vent de fraîcheur souffle sur l'Impact Social Club 💦

On vous avait dit "à bientôt". On était parties chercher comment être utiles.
On a trouvé.

Quelque chose d'universel, de simple : le fait de faire commun. On s'est rendues compte -et vous nous l'avez dit- que ce qui manque le plus à celles et ceux qui veulent changer le monde, avec des films mais pas que, c'est un espace où l'on n'est pas seul.e. Une communauté qui s'entraide, s'écoute, se soutient, fait ensemble.

C'est ça qu'on construit. C'est ça qu'on vous offre.

## Notre newsletter est à l’image de ce souffle nouveau. ##

En bio, le lien pour adhérer.

12

0

MAGMA Thanks #6 — Thessaloniki Agora

As MAGMA begins its journey into the world, we’re looking back at some of the workshops, labs and pitching forums that welcomed the project along the way.

This time: @filmfestivalgr AGORA Doc Market

Every member of the Agora team welcomed us with exceptional warmth and care for each project, creating a space where filmmakers could not only pitch and network, but also breathe, reflect and support one another.

A special thank you to Elena Gaitanarou, @angelvergou , @thanosgst and @eezacharo for your generosity, kindness and unwavering support. And a lot of gratitude to @elenachristopoulou for the space she created with her wellness room, one of the most thoughtful initiatives we’ve ever experienced at a film market!

Thank you as well to our wonderful mentors, @emaexplorations and @tempetation , for your insightful guidance throughout the programme.

We were honoured to receive the 2|35 Award for postproduction. A heartfelt thank you to Sakis and the entire 2|35 team for accompanying MAGMA through the final stages of post-production.

86

12