Interviewed by Amalya with Influential People Magazine
Paint Artist CHEMSOU BELARBI
Chemsou Belarbi was born on February 14, 1987, in Algeria. The eldest of four children, he was born into abject poverty. Chemsou, his father, and brother have worked hard to support the family, trying to put food on the table, clothes on their backs and shoes on their feet, often after putting in a day of hard labor, were sent home without being paid a wage for their work. His brother, doing hard labor, was injured and is permanently disabled. Chemsou, who from childhood was abused by employers, forcing him to do heavy labor, was often exploited by them by not paying him the wages he was due. As a result of the abuse, Chemsou was stressed to his very limit, and entered the hospital, remaining there for two months while being treated for “stomach disease.”
Interviewed by Amalya Christy for IPM
Amalya: How old were you when you began drawing?
Chemsou: I was a small child.
Amalya: Do you remember what inspired you to draw?
Chemsou: I would work and save until I could afford to go to the cinema. I loved to look at the large posters hanging on the doors. I would go home after the movie and draw pictures of characters from various scenes.
Amalya: You were living in poverty. How long would it take for you to save enough money to go to the cinema?
Chemsou: Sometimes it took an awfully long time. I would work to buy food for the family. I would try to put away something from each pay toward going to the cinema. Sometimes, I would work extremely hard for a set wage, but the manager refused to pay me for my work. I suffered a lot in order to satisfy my love for the cinema, and my desire to meet my goal.
Amalya: What goal did you have?
Chemsou: I wanted to be able to paint the posters of movie scenes and actors that hang on the walls and doors of the cinema. But because I lived in poverty, I didn’t have money to buy the paints and tools that I needed to be able to make professional posters, nor did I have a place where I could draw and paint them, where they would be safe from harm.
Amalya: You did not have money to go to the movies as often as you would like to have gone. Living in poverty, you didn’t have the money to buy drawing and painting supplies that would enable you to make the posters, nor did you have a place to make them where they would be free from harm. It sounds like your back was up against a wall. What did you do to start things moving?
Chemsou: I gathered materials until I had enough to make a workroom in my parents’ house. Because I did not have the money to buy paints and painting tools, I started experimenting with leaves and flowers. I dried them and was able to extract good colors, reds, and yellows for painting. The drawing feather (paintbrush) was made from old clothes that had been thrown into the trash.
Amalya: Wow! Talk about determination! After building your workspace in the middle of your parents’ house, and making your own drawing and painting tools out of discarded clothing, what did you do next?
Chemsou: I started to draw film posters and paint movie stars. I began sending letters to American production companies but did not receive any answers. I used the posters to decorate local shops and began selling them in the streets. He asked me to create a poster for his movie and to participate in the film which starred Michael Qissi. The poster turned out spectacularly and my participation in the movie went well. After this movie, directors and producers began to request my work. Then Jimmy Gourad, Comedian and former boxing champion led a delegation from Belgium to meet me. They had organized a special ceremony in my honor that I will cherish as a special memory forever. It is my hope and prayer that all the countries will one day unite in peace, realizing that we have more in common than we have that is different. “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”
Amalya: Thank you Chemsou for sharing with us your inspirational real-life story. You can see many of the international film posters Chemsou has designed and painted in his imdb account. Bucks of America in theaters June 17, 2021.
Mark your calendars moviegoers! This must-see film will be hitting theaters in the summer of 2021. Its projected release date is set for the 246th anniversary of Bunker Hill. See you there!
WWW.BUCKSOFAMERICA.COM
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