206 films from 47 countries to be screened in Carthage Film Festival

Najib Ayyad, Head of the 29th Carthage Film Festival, said that 206 films from 47 Arab and foreign countries would be screened during the festival.

The Carthage Film Festival will take place from 3 to 10 November 2018.

Founded in 1966 the festival is considered to be the oldest cinematic competition in the south of the Mediterranean.

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Ayyad declared at a press conference held in the City of Culture that he attended to announce the festival’s program: “the official competition will feature 44 films from 19 countries, including 13 feature-length films, 12 short films, 11 long documentaries and eight short documentaries.”

Tunisia will participate with three feature-length films, four short films and two documentaries, among other 61 Tunisian films taking part in the official competition.

The two Tunisian films Fi Inaya (In My Eyes) and Ikhwan (Brothers), the Moroccan Laziza (My Precious), the Syrian War Travellers, the Iraqi Yara, the Egyptian films Between Summer and Winter and Judgement Day as well as the Kenyan film Rafiki are among the cinematic contributions competing for the Golden Tanit.

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Ayyad stressed that “the festival adheres to its founding principles evolving around its Arab-African identity.”

He added that Carthage Film Festival’s uniqueness resides in being faithful to its resistant and emancipatory character. He asserted that the festival aims at establishing a sophisticated culture of art and that it is not a tinsel festival like the other new film festivals.

Ayyad explained that the famous Avenue Habib Bourguiba, in the centre of the Tunisian capital, will witness an active movement during the festivals’ period, as it will be animated by 53 concerts with the participation of 105 Tunisian and foreign artists.

The festival will pay tribute to four countries from three continents, namely:  Iraq and India (Asia), Senegal (Africa) and Brazil (South America).

Regarding the incident of preventing the shooting of a Tunisian film in the south of Tunisia, Ayyad expressed his deep concern, stressing that:

We cannot accept this ban in Tunisia, especially since this film has all the necessary legal licenses.

The local authorities in Tunisia forbade the filming of a movie directed by Mahdi Al-Barsawi, for featuring war scenes during which the Tunisian flag was lowered to be replaced by the banner of Daesh.