In previous chapters of this book, it has been argued that Maghrebi-French and North African émigré filmmaking has undergone a transformation in the 2000s that brought certain filmmakers firmly into the mainstream. In the case of actor, writer and director Abdellatif Kechiche, a different (but no less significant) kind of evolution has taken place.

Kechiche was born in Tunisia and arrived in France at the age of six. He grew up on a working-class estate on the outskirts of Nice, not far from the city's famous Victorine studios. During his youth, he indulged a passion for cinema through regular trips to the Nice cinématèque, where he first discovered many of the great French actors – Michel Simon, Jules Berry, Harry Baur, Arletty – and later directors such as De Sica, Pasoloini, Pialat and Sautet (Kechiche in Morice 2007). After studying acting at the Conservatoire de Nice he embarked on a career in the theatre that led to a limited number of film roles, most notably as the lead in Le Thé à la menthe (Bahloul, 1984) and Bezness (Bouzid, 1992).

Reacting against what he saw as the paucity of meaningful roles for Maghrebi-French actors, beyond stereotypical portrayals as immigrants, delinquents or criminals, Kechiche began to develop his own screenplays in the 1990s (Kechiche in Morice 2007).