INTERVIEW Michelle Michewicz
PUBLISHED 11 AUG 26
Amel Zikikout is a Tunisian filmmaker and art director whose work delves into themes of memory, place, and personal storytelling. Moving fluidly between film, photography, and art direction, she has cultivated a distinctive visual language, driven by a pursuit of authentic emotion and a strong sense of identity.
// How would you describe your artistic practice?
My artistic practice lies at the intersection of cinema, image, and memory. I seek to preserve a trace of what is at risk of disappearing.
// What kind of relationship do you have with art?
For me, art is a space for research and questioning. It allows me to give form to what I feel.
// What motivates you to create?
I create so as not to forget. Me-Moire was born from what I wanted to preserve of my memories.
// How do you usually work? Can you describe your creative process?
For Me-Moire, I started with my own memories. I gathered images and fragments of life to tell the story of what I wanted to preserve.
// What moment of the creative process do you appreciate the most?
I think it’s when I began to feel the emotional impact of each moment I captured. Despite being alone on set, every filmed moment contributed to the overall story I was trying to tell, which made me realize I was truly creating a film.
// How do you know when a work is finished?
I know it’s finished when it says what I wanted to say, without needing to explain it.
// What is your contribution to SEE DJERBA 2026, and how is it related to this year’s theme, AKROS?
Me-Moire is linked to AKROS by this idea of connection: between my grandmother and me, between memories and the present, and between what fades and what remains.
// Did the festival’s theme influence or transform your artistic approach?
Me-Moire finally returns to Djerba, where it all began. A film about the connections that remain, even when memory fades. My approach remains the same … for now. Perhaps next year, she will take a different path.
// What does entanglement mean to you?
For me, it’s all those invisible threads that bind us to others, to our memories, and to our history.
// Can you describe a personal experience that made you reflect on the idea of entanglement?
With my grandmother’s illness, I saw her memory gradually fade. But I understood that her memories also survive elsewhere: in mine, in photos and stories. Her memory had become a shared memory.
// What do you hope visitors experience when they discover your work?
Above all, I would like them to feel something. I think it’s interesting when a very personal story can awaken something universal in someone else.
// What would you like people to take away from seeing your work?
I would like them to share the idea that memory is shared and passed on. And that sometimes, when someone forgets, we become the guardians of what remains.
// Do you think art should ask questions, provide answers, or both?
I think art can do both, but I prefer when it raises questions rather than when it imposes answers. A work of art can be a space for reflection where everyone finds their own interpretation.
// What inspires you outside the art world?
My family, memories, places, encounters, and the little things in everyday life.
// Is there an artist, writer, or thinker who has significantly influenced your practice?
Chantal Akerman is a major influence on my practice. Her films taught me that the intimate can become universal, and that silences, gestures, and absences can tell as much as words.