{{short description|Tunisian filmmaker and photographer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Albert Samama Chikly | native_name = ألبير شمامة شيكلي | native_name_lang = ar | other_names = | image = Albert Samama-Chikli.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1872|01|24|df=yes}} | birth_name = Albert Samama | birth_place = Tunis, Tunisia | death_date = {{death date and age|1934|12|28|1872|01|24|df=yes}} | death_place = Tunis, Tunisia | resting_place = Borgel cemetery | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | alma_mater = | height = | years_active = 1897–1934 | party = | spouse = Bianca Ferrero | children = Haydée Tamzali | awards = | father = David Samama | mother = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = | occupation = Director, photographer, technophile, adventurer, cyclist }}
'''Albert Samama Chikly''' (24 January 1872 – 28 December 1934), was a Tunisian filmmaker and photographer.<ref name= Victorian>{{cite web | url=https://www.victorian-cinema.net/samama.php| title=Albert Samama Chikly (1872–1934) | publisher=Who's Who of Victorian Cinema | accessdate=14 October 2020}}</ref> Considered one of the earliest pillars in World Cinema, Albert was a photographer, filmmaker, technophile, adventurer, and cyclist.<ref name= ilcinemaritrovato>{{cite web | url=https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/sezione/albert-samama-chikly-principe-dei-pionieri/| title=Albert Samama Chikly, Prince of the Pioneers | website=Cinema Ritrovato | access-date=14 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://mubi.com/cast/albert-samama-chikly| title=Albert Samama Chikly: Director| website=MUBI | access-date=14 October 2020}}</ref>
==Personal life and Death== He was born on 24 January 1872 in Tunis, Tunisia to a wealthy Tunisian Jewish family. His father David Samama, was a banker of the Bey who established a banking institution that later become the Bank of Tunisia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/haydee-chikly/ |title=Haydée Chikly |publisher=Columbia University |accessdate=21 March 2020}}</ref> His mother was a housewife. Albert continued his studies with Charles Lavigerie and then with the Jesuits in Marseille. He was a traveler that traveled to Cape Horn, China and Australia frequently even at young age. He received his nickname 'Chikli' from the brotherhood of firefighters of the island of Chikly, a small island on Lake Tunis.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.akbanksanat.com/en/event/osmanli-imparatorlugundan-goruntuler-1-samama-chikly?date=1869| title=Views From Ottoman Empire 1 Albert Samama Chickly | publisher=akbanksanat | accessdate=14 October 2020}}</ref>
He was married to Bianca Ferrero, an Italian-born woman from Savoy, who was a musician.<ref>"Visionario Chikly, portò il cinema (e la bicicletta) agli africani" ''la Repubblica'' (11 July 2015)</ref> The couple had one daughter Haydée Tamzali. He later acquired French nationality.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}
Albert died in 1934 in Tunis at the age of 62 and buried in the Jewish cemetery called the Borgel.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}
==Career== In 1896, Albert returned to Tunisia and took the first cinematographic images with the help of photographer Soler. Accompanying the exhibition of Auguste and Louis Lumière, he broadcasts the films ''The Exit from the Lumière factory in Lyon'' and ''The Arrival of a train at La Ciotat station''.<ref name= Ritrovato>{{cite web | url=https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/proiezione/albert-samama-chikly-tre-programmi/| title=Three Programmes | publisher=Cinema Ritrovato | accessdate=14 October 2020}}</ref> He continued to study the science and techniques of photography and cinematography and became the first person to introduce the bicycle and wireless telegraph in Tunisia. Later he introduced first X-ray machine in a Tunisian hospital.<ref name= Victorian /> In 1908, Albert filmed aerial views using a balloon between Hammam-Lif and Grombalia. He later filmed the 1908 earthquake in Messina and took probably the first underwater shot in 1909. In 1910, he filmed Tuna fishing in Tunisia under the patronage of Albert I, Prince of Monaco.<ref name= ilcinemaritrovato />
[[File:Haydee Tamzali.jpg|thumb|right|Haydée Tamzali, daughter]] He developed a passion for documentaries and reporting where he began to cover events throughout Tunisia for the newspapers 'Le Matin' and 'L'Illustration'. In 1911, he was commissioned to cover the Italo-Turkish War took place in Tripolitania. Then he produced documentary images, such as 'La Pêche aux éponges' or 'Trafic d'Armes off Douara'. During the First World War, he joined the photographic and cinematographic section of the French armies and became one of the twelve reporters directed by Abel Gance who filmed the trenches of the Battle of Verdun.<ref name= Victorian /><ref name= luminous>{{cite web | url=http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/photographer/Albert__Samama-Chikli/A/| title=Other: Albert Samama Chikly | publisher=Luminous-Lint | accessdate=14 October 2020}}</ref>
In the 1920s he worked as the photographer and documentarian for travel magazines and tourist guides. In 1922 he was the cameraman in the film ''Tales of a Thousand and One Nights'' directed by Russian Victor Tourjanski. After spending many weeks among rural populations, Albert created the ''Encyclopedia in images of Tunisian life''.<ref name= ilcinemaritrovato />
In 1922, Albert made his first short fiction film ''Zohra'' which is also the first Tunisian fiction film.<ref name= luminous /> The film received great success and was presented at the Omnia Pathé cinema in Tunisia on 21 December 1922. In the film, his daughter, Haydée Tamzali played the main role. Later she became ALbert's first female interpreter and screenwriter. Meanwhile, she becomes the first actress of the Arabian cinema.<ref name= ilcinemaritrovato /><ref name= Ritrovato />
In 1923, he directed the film ''Ain el-Ghezal ou la fille de Carthage'', the first feature film directed by a Tunisian in Tunisian cinema history.<ref name= luminous /> It was produced with the support of Habib Bey.<ref name= Ritrovato />
==Legacy== In 1996, the biographical short film ''Albert Samama Chikli, this wonderful madman filming with his funny machines'' was directed by Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud in honor of Albert Samama.{{fact|date=February 2026}}
==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Film !! Role !! Genre !! Ref. |- | 1909 || ''Brugge en Brussel'' || Director || Documentary || |- | 1909 || ''Antwerpen en Oostende'' || Director || Documentary || |- | 1922 || ''Zohra'' || Director, editor || Short film ||<ref>{{cite web | url=https://letterboxd.com/film/zohra/| title=Zohra 1922 Directed by Albert Samama Chikly | publisher=letterboxd | accessdate=14 October 2020}}</ref> |- | 1924 || ''Ain el-Ghezal ou la fille de Carthage'' || Director || Feature film || |}
==Gallery== <gallery> Samama Chickli.jpg|In his young age Zohra Albert Samama-Chikli.webm|''Zohra'' film Samama Chikli atelier.jpg| ECPAD SPA-58-L-2747.jpg| Atelier de photographie médicale d'Albert Samama-Chikli - La Dépêche Tunisiennne.jpg Albert Samama bekijkt een skelet met een röntgentoestel, RP-F-2016-105-45.jpg </gallery>
==References== {{reflist}} * [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Albert_Samama-Chikli Wikipedia category]
==External links== * {{IMDb name|nm0157418}} * [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4071376/albert-samama-chikly-tunisian/ Albert Samama Chikly, Tunisian filmmaker (1924)] * [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057%2F9781137312372_10 Tunisia] * [http://www.fondation-jeromeseydoux-pathe.com/Journée%20dédiée%20à%20Albert%20Samama%20Chikly Albert Samama Chikly – Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé] * [https://en.notrecinema.com/communaute/stars/stars.php3?staridx=280111 Albert SAMAMA-CHIKLY alias : SAMAMA] {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samama Chikly, Albert}} Category:1872 births Category:1934 deaths Category:Tunisian film directors Category:Tunisian inventors Category:Tunisian Jews Category:Tunisian cyclists Category:Jews and Judaism in Tunis Category:Cinema pioneers