More than four years after the start of what was dubbed the 'jasmine revolution', Tunisia seems to have found a path to democratic normality, even if, as recent events have highlighted, it is not without its share of upheavals. The adoption of a new constitution, the experience of the Islamist Ennahdha government and the recent election victory of the secular Nida'a Tunis party - which means alternation in power - attest to this.
In this renewed, apparently stable socio-political context, changes are taking place in the cultural field, and the world of film is no exception. The growing presence of women in filmmaking and the rise of the documentary genre are proof of this.
As we commented in our previous film series, 'Militant Women', dedicated to Arab women directors, the opportunity offered by the changes generated by the pro-democratic revolts has been seized by women filmmakers to establish themselves in an activity in which they had always been present. In the specific case of Tunisia, it is with the turn of the millennium in particular that we see a greater push from directors such as Nadia El Fani and Moufida Tlatli, among others, references of the generation that is now emerging with democracy.
A democracy that also facilitates the circumstances for the making of documentaries, a genre that was impossible during the dictatorship, given its usual condition as a tool for reflecting, denouncing and criticising reality.
With this cycle we aim to offer a varied representation of the cinematography produced in post-revolutionary Tunisia by the filmmakers Hinde Boujemaa and Kaouther Ben Hania, whose documentaries will accompany a feature film by Raja Amari, 'Tunisian Spring', which will be screened for the first time in Spain and which has been translated and subtitled into Spanish by the Fundación Tres Culturas.
Tuesday, 14 April
Shallaţ Tunis (‘El Cuchilla’ de Túnez)
Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia/France, 2014, 90 minutes).
Cycle Tunisia. Films for after a revolution.
Ejercicio cinematográfico documental que, mezclando realidad y ficción, trata de esclarecer los hechos ocurridos en Túnez en 2003, en los que un motorista supuestamente acuchillaba a mujeres. El aparato mediático de la dictadura cerró el caso rápidamente, pero ahora, ya en democracia, la directora reabre la cuestión para analizar cuánto hubo de verdad y de rumor en unos hechos que incluso tuvieron eco e imitación en otros países, como Egipto.
Film programmed in collaboration with FCAT.
Free admission until full capacity is reached.
Portuguese