Kaci was raised in
Algiers by a mother who was "colorful, illiterate, and cultured". She taught her daughter feminism from a young age and played
darbouka for the seven children. At age 18, Kaci became worried about the direction of Algeria and the freedoms due to the
1988 October Riots and the rise of Islamic nationalism. When she decided to become an actress, her father refused to speak to her for twenty years. Kaci was encouraged to move to France, but initially refused since she thought it was traitorous. She eventually left for France in 1993, after the bigotry became unbearable for her. In 1994, Kaci played Yamina, the liberal sister of Said who is forced to wear a veil, in
Bab El-Oued City. The film was directed by
Merzak Allouache and condemns the violence of Islamic fundamentalists, and received the
International Federation of Film Critics award at the
1994 Cannes Film Festival. She portrayed the intellectual Fatiha in
Bent Familia, released in 1997. In 1999, Kaci starred as pediatric nurse Samia Damouni in
It All Starts Today. Kaci played Julie, a worker at a local-authority home caring for René, in
Nationale 7 in 2000. Malcolm Lewis of
New Internationalist praised her performance as having "lightness but real mettle." She starred in
Les Suspects in 2004, an adaptation of the novel
Les Vigiles by
Tahar Djaout. In 2007, Kaci starred in
Délice Paloma, directed by
Nadir Moknèche. In 2015, Kaci played Freyha in
Lotfi Bouchouchi's
The Well. Kaci starred in
I Still Hide to Smoke, directed by
Rayhana Obermeyer in 2016. She starred in
Until the Birds Return and
The Blessed in 2017, both of which examine life in Algiers in the post-civil war era. In 2019, Kaci played Madame Kamissi in
Papicha, directed by Mounia Meddour. The film premiered at the
2019 Cannes Film Festival and focuses on the daily life of a student obsessed with fashion in the early 1990s. Kaci obtained French citizenship in 2015. She has a son and said she cannot imagine living anywhere else. She considers the
Algerian War and the slums of Nanterre some of her favorite subjects to act in. ==Filmography==