The cinema of Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

has been present since 1896, when the Lumière brothers

Auguste and Louis Lumière

The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean , were among the earliest filmmakers in history...

 began showing animated films in the streets of Tunis

Tunis

Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....

.

In 1919, the first feature-length movie produced on the African continent: Les Cinq gentlemen maudits (The Five Accursed Gentlemen) was filmed in Tunisia. In 1924, Zohra directed a medium-length film called Ain Al-Ghazal (The Girl from Carthage) thus making him, one of the very first native filmmakers on the African continent. In 1966, the first feature Tunisian film (95 minutes) Al-Fajr (The Dawn) was directed and produced by Omar Khlifi; it was shot on a 35 mm film

35 mm film

35 mm film is the film gauge most commonly used for chemical still photography and motion pictures. The name of the gauge refers to the width of the photographic film, which consists of strips 35 millimeters in width...

. Tunisia also hosts the Carthage Film Festival

Carthage Film Festival

The Carthage Film Festival is a biannual October film festival hosted by the government of Tunisia. It alternates with the Damascus International Film Festival....

 which has been taking place since 1966. The festival gives priority to films from Arab and African countries. It is the oldest film festival on the African continent and the Arab World.

In 1927, the first Tunisian film distribution company, Tunis-Film, started its activities. After independence, movies were exclusively produced by SATPEC (Société Anonyme Tunisienne de Production et d'Expansion Cinématographique) which controlled cinema and filming productions in the country at the time. Nevertheless, during the 80s, private production companies and studios emerged and wanted to make Tunisia the Mediterranean Hollywood. The producer Tarak Ben Ammar

Tarak Ben Ammar

Tarak Ben Ammar is an international movie producer and distributor, He is famous for his interest in artistic movies, especially when they are related to Mediterranean culture or require North African locations...

, a nephew of Wasila Bourguiba, succeeded in attracting some big production companies to shoot inside his studios in Monastir

Monastir, Tunisia

-Areas within Monastir:Monastir's north-eastern territories lead into a place called Route de la Falaise, through which you will reach its most notable suburb, Skanes, which is 6 miles from Monastir's town centre...

. Major foreign movies were filmed in Tunisia including but not limited to Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

's Pirates and Franco Zeffirelli

Franco Zeffirelli

Franco Zeffirelli KBE is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator for the Italian center-right Forza Italia party....

's Jesus of Nazareth. After visiting Tunisia George Lucas

George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

 was seduced by the natural beauty and authentic old architecture of some Southern Tunisian towns where he decided to film important scenes of Star Wars

Star Wars

Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

,as well as Indiana Jones. Moreover, Anthony Minghella

Anthony Minghella

Anthony Minghella, CBE was an English film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007....

 filmed the nine Academy Awards

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 winner The English Patient

The English Patient (film)

The English Patient is a 1996 romantic drama film based on the novel of the same name by Sri Lankan-Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje. The film, written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella, won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture...

in a south-west oasis of the country.

When it comes to domestic productions, they were rare: the few movies which were produced since 1967 tried to reflect the new social dynamics, development, identity research and modernity shock. Some of them achieved a relative success outside Tunisia such as La Goulette (Halq El-Wadi 1996) directed by Ferid Boughdir which showed a flashback of typical community life in the small suburb of La Goulette in a period where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived together in tolerance and peace. Halfaouine: Child of the Terraces (Asfour Stah 1990), from the same director Boughdir is possibly the biggest popular success in the history of Tunisian Cinema. The movie showed the life of a child from Tunis (Halfouine suburb) in the 60s who was on a quest to understand relationships, the world of women and how to be a man. In another earlier movie entitled Man of Ashes (Rih Essedd 1986) Boughdir was as always depicting Tunisian society without fear or favour and talked about prostitution, paedophilia and inter-faith relations between Tunisian Muslims and Tunisian Jews. In the 1991's film Bezness, he talked about the emerging sexual tourism inside the country. The Ambassadors

Les Ambassadeurs (film)

Les Ambassadeurs is a Tunisian film produced in 1975 by Naceur Ktari. It won the Tanit d'or for best film Carthage Film Festival in 1976 and the special jury prize at Locarno International Film Festival the same year...

(As-Soufraa 1975) directed by Naceur Ktari portrayed the life of immigrant Maghrebins in France and their struggle against racism. The film won the Golden Tanit for the best picture during the Carthage Film Festival in 1976, the special jury award from the Locarno International Film Festival

Locarno International Film Festival

The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...

 in the same year and it has been classified in the Un Certain Regard category during the 1978 Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

.

The first feature-film ever to be directed by a woman in the Arab World was The Silences of Palace

The Silences of Palace

The Silences of the Palace is a 1994 Tunisian film written and directed by Moufida Tlatli. It was the first featured-length movie to be directed by a woman in the Arab World.- Plot :...

(Samt Al-Qusur 1994) by Moufida Tlatli

Moufida Tlatli

Moufida Tlatli is a Tunisian film director. She was the first Arab woman to direct a full featured-film in the Arab World.- Biography :She was born in Sidi Bou Saïd suburb of the capital Tunis in 1947...

. The director won several international jury awards for her work. The movie shows the daily life in an aristocratic palace in Tunis through the eyes of a young woman.

In 2007, several films were produced and grabbed public attention such as Making Of directed by Nouri Bouzid and Nejib Belkadi's VHS Kahloucha.

Academy Award nominations

Tunisia has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

 on an irregular basis since 1995. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...

 to a feature-length

Feature length

Feature length is motion picture terminology referring to the length of a feature film. According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a feature length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes to be eligible for an Academy Award.The term may also...

motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. As of 2009, only two Tunisian films have been submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and neither was nominated for an Oscar.