detheatermaker

Amel Malfait Lakhtara (she/her, 1995) is a Brussels-based theatre maker. After exploring history, Arabic studies and philosophy, she graduated as a theatre maker from RITCS in 2021 with FA FA FACADE and joined TransfoCollect. Malfait Lakhtara works with and is part of the collectives Caddy For Palestine and Collectif Faire-Part.
She is fascinated by the Abject and the Shadowy, the negative of an awake reality, the underbelly of existence where Funghi, Mushrooms, Slime and Algae thrive. Averse to conventions, she bricolages worlds like junkyards, populated by creatures that dismantle the differences between humans, animals and things.

Malfait Lakhtara is obsessed with the rhythm of circular movements, in contrast to the linear narratives that bind us. From the intricate networks of mycelium to the eternal dance of jellyfish, from the silent conversations of trees to the echoes of intergenerational trauma. What all circular movements have in common is connection, and she finds comfort in the interconnectedness of all things, by reactivating what is considered dead material.
Amel has created work in and for Sint Lukas Brussels, the Concertgebouw Brugge, Alleedukaai, Theater Antigone, Decoratelier, Bâtard Festival, Theater De Maan, among others, and has collaborated with Rachid Laachir, Renée Goethijn, Michiel Soete, Benjamin Verdonck, and others.
Amel Malfait Lakhtara is artist in residence at Zinnema during the 24′-25′ season, where she is working on a series of sculptures (IT TAKES A MUSCLE TO FALL IN LOVE) about the heart. She cultivates fungi, which she transforms into masks, costumes and set pieces, and is writing MENSES, a collection of surrealist short stories about menstrual bleeding. In 2025, she will premiere FI FI FILE, a visual performance in which actors, music and set design come together in the midst of an eternal traffic jam.