Founded by Tahar Cheriaa in 1966, the Carthage Film Festival – since last year – is
now an annual event; previously it was a biannual festival. Although the Tunis bus
bomb attack happened during the 26th edition of the Carthage Film Festival in
November 2015, movie goers at the festival insisted they would not be afraid to
attend screenings. Festival director Ibrahim Letaief expressed his gratitude to
guests for staying in Tunisia despite the security concerns.
Conceived as a bridge between the Middle East, the Maghreb region and sub-
Saharan Africa, the Carthage Film Festival took place in 13 Tunisian cities,
organised around 1 000 screenings in movie theatres, prisons and universities, and
conducted a symposium on “Literacy and Cinema’.
In 2015, Carthage paid tribute to the Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira, the
Tunisian director Nouri Bouzid, the Algerian writer and filmmaker Assia Djebar, the
Tunisian DOP Habib Masrouki and the Egyptian stars Faten Hamama, Asma El-Bakri,
Nabiha Lotfi, Maali Zayed and Mariem Fakhreddine. Two focus sessions about Italian
and Argentinean cinema were also organised.
FESPACO, Carthage’s biannual twin festival created in 1969 in Burkina Faso, was
also one of the key participants. Some of the greatest Golden Stallion winners came
to Tunisia, including Haile Gerima (Ethiopia), Gaston Kabore (Burkina Faso) and
Souleymane Cisse (Mali).
This year, the Carthage Film Festival received 600 entries. Out of the 17 features
selected in the main competition Mohamed Mouftakir’s The Blind Orchestra
(Morocco) won the Golden Tanit; Oliver Hermanus’ The Endless River (South Africa)
received the Silver Tanit; Leyla Bouzid’s first feature As I Open My Eyes (Tunisia),
the Bronze Tanit; and Nabil Ayouch controversial Much Loved (Morocco) received
the Jury Prize.
As I Open My Eyes (Tunisia) and Sibs Shongwe-La Mer’s Necktie Youth (South
Africa) also received the TV5 Monde Award, while the Algerian feature The Well by
Lofti Bouchouchi won the Jury Special Mention. Adlane Djemi received the Best
Actor Award for Merzak Allouache’s Madame Courage (Algeria) and Maimouna
N’Diaye, the Best Actress Award for Sekou Traore’s The Eye of the Cyclone (Burkina
Faso).
Out of the 16 selected documentaries, Hassen Ferhani’s Roundabout in My Head
(Algeria) won the Golden Documentary Award as well as the First Feature Award.
The six-hour Iraqi documentary Homeland by Abbas Fahdel received the Silver
Documentary Award while the Syrian feature Queens of Syria, got the Bronze
Award.
Out of the 13 short films in competition, Diaspora by Alaeddin Abou Taleb (Tunisia)
won the Golden Short Film Award; Terremere by Aliou Sow (Senegal) received the
Silver Short Film Award; and Lmuja by Omar Belkacemi (Algeria), the Bronze Short
Film Award.
The second edition of the Takmil post-production workshop gave seven awards this
year. The jury was composed of Vincenzo Bugno (Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund,
Germany), Hala Khalil (filmmaker, Egypt), Nadia Ben Rachid (editor,
France/Tunisia) Monica Rorvik (Wesgro, South Africa) and Hedi Zardi (Luxbox,
France/Tunisia). A prize winner in the workshop was: A Besieged Person Like Me by
Hala Abdalla (Syria), which received €10 000 from the Organisation Internationale
de la Francophonie (OIF) and €10 000 from the French Cinema Center (CNC).
Kaouther Ben Hania’s Zaineb Doesn’t Like Snow (Tunisia) received TND20 000
(Tunisian dinars) from the Star Insurance Company. Mohamed Ben Attia’s Hedi won
TND15 000 from the Tunisian Cinema Center (CNCI). Iman Kamel’s Egyptian Jeanne
d’Arc received €10 000 from the SANAD Abu Dhabi Film Fund. On the Fence by
Nesrine El Zaya (Egypt) received $10 000 from the Arab League Educational Cultural
and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) while Tounsa by Ridha Tlili (Tunisia) received
€9 000 from the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC).
By Claire Diao
