In a struggling rural neighborhood, a young teacher revolutionizes students’ classroom experience through film.
Cinéma 7
In a town where « nothing has changed »: Documentary Film Festival of Redeyef
This year’s Documentary Film Festival of Redeyef (RFDR) takes place December 20-24, in the town whose name is almost synonymous with Tunisia’s phosphate industry and its deleterious effects on the surrounding populations and environment. Although the mining basin revolt of 2008 is considered a precursor to the Tunisian revolution in 2011, in 2017 residents affirm without hesitation that here in Redeyef, « nothing has changed ». Now in its fourth year, the RFDR, funded by the Rosa Luxembourg Foundation, is pushing to establish a perennial film festival here, a so-called difficult terrain that is parched for sustainable cultural outlets.
From graffiti to gallery: Stepping into the universe of Jawher Soudani
Moustached, tatoo-clad characters, toothy creatures with large heads and tiny wings, speech bubbles containing gangly Arabic script invade whatever empty space Jawher Soudani gets his hands on. Vacant walls and buildings in Sfax, Kef, Sousse, Hammamet, Beja, Djerba and Gabes—the artist’s birthplace—have provided an outdoor canvas for Soudani, more commonly known by passers-by as Va-Jo. This September marks a first: a solo exposition at Atelier Y in La Marsa, Tunis.
The Tunisian body, on and off screen
The body in cinema was the theme of the 17th edition of Cinéma de la Paix? organized by the Tunisian Federation of Film Clubs (Fédération Tunisienne des Ciné-Club, FTCC) in Tunis. March 8-12, at the Quatrième Art theater downtown, cinephiles, directors, students, FTCC members old and new filled café tables and spilled out into the street, clutching programs and caricatures sketched out by an on-site cartoonist. On Sunday evening, a musical performance by Pardon My French marked the end of the festival, five days of reflections and discussions on what the body in cinema reveals about society.
International Amateur Film Festival of Kelibia: the old fisherman is still catching
The 31st International Amateur Film Festival of Kelibia (FIFAK) will take place next month, August 7-13. Yesterday morning at the Rio movie theater in Tunis, the Tunisian Federation of Amateur Filmmakers (FTCA), held a press conference to present this year’s edition. Created in 1964, the FIFAK is the continent’s oldest film festival.
Cinéma Amilcar: movies and resistance
In a political context where cultural expression is stifled as security measures are intensified, going out to see a movie becomes an act of resistance.
Forbidden Voices
On the 2nd day of the Human Screen International Film Festival in Tunis, “le Mondiale” movie house exhibited yesterday “Forbidden voices”, a film which was released in 2012 and which was winner of the Amnesty International Award and the Swiss Film Festival Award as “Best Documentary”. The film narrates the story of three young and courageous female bloggers, from three different countries, who made a revolution from behind a laptop.
