After studying political science and law, Meryem-Bahia Arfaoui, originally from the Empalot neighborhood in Toulouse, turned to audiovisual media as a means of archiving and transmission. In 2021, she directed Les Splendides, a short documentary that won the Grand Jury Prize in Arte’s “Et pourtant elles tournent” competition.
At the request of residents from the northern districts of Toulouse, she went on to direct a documentary series in 2023, in which several generations look back on sixty years of Toulouse’s history and immigration.
In 2024, she wrote and directed the documentary Camionneuse, co-produced by Arte, an immersive portrait exploring the dreams that haunt the descendants of colonized peoples. Les Coursives is her first published collection.
