Tunisian cinema distinguished itself at the 7th edition of the El Gouna Film Festival (GFF) held from October 24 to November 1, 2024 in the city of El Gouna – Egypt, winning two prizes in the official competition and four prize for two film projects in the “CineGouna Funding” program.
“Who Do I Belong To” by Meryam Joobeur (title in Arabic: Mé el Aïn) won the Best Arab Film Prize, tied with “Thank you for banking with us” by Palestinian Leila Abbas. The Tunisian film appeared in the official fiction feature film competition made up of 15 international co-productions representing various countries.
“Who Do I Belong To” is a drama (120′) and is Ms. Joobeur’s first feature film. It is a 2024 co-production, between Tunisia (Tanit Films), Canada, France and Qatar. Meryam Joobeur is the author of 3 short films including Gods, Weeds and Revolutions (2012), Born in the Maelstrom (2017) and Brotherhood (2018). The latter was nominated for the 2020 Oscars and is the winner of 75 international awards.
“Who Do I Belong To” made its world premiere at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival “The Berlinale” in Germany. He won the “Bayard for best first work” at the 39th International Francophone Film Festival (FIFF) in Namur – Belgium. It was recently presented in the International First Feature Film Competition at the 68th London Film Festival (BFI).
The cast of “Who Do I Belong To” is made up of Salha Nasraoui, Mohamed Hassine Grayaa, Malek Mechergui, Adam Bessa and Dea Liane.
Synopsis: Aïcha, a Tunisian mother gifted with prophetic dreams, lives on a rural farm with her husband Brahim and their three sons. The lives of Aïcha and Brahim are completely turned upside down after the departure of their eldest sons, Mehdi and Amine, to the violent embrace of war. Having lived their lives solely for their children, Aïcha and Brahim find themselves without foundation and try to make sense of a painful new reality. A few months later, Mehdi returns home with a pregnant wife named Reem. The niqab and Reem’s silence deeply disturb Brahim. Aïcha, for her part, welcomes Mehdi and Reem into the house and swears to protect them at all costs. Mehdi’s return triggers strange events in the village. Aisha is so busy protecting her son that she barely notices the growing fear within the community. Aïcha must confront the limits of her maternal love in order to put an end to the growing darkness.
Thus, the Franco-Tunisian actor Adam Bessa won the Best Actor Award for his role in “Les phantoms” (Ghost trail) directed by Frenchman Jonathan Millet, who is the winner of the Best Fiction Film Award, “Golden star award”, endowed with 50,000 dollars.
“Ghost trail” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in the Critics’ Week section. In this thriller inspired by true events, Adam Bessa plays the role of Hamid, a member of a secret organization that tracks down Syrian war criminals living in Europe. The young man’s quest leads him on the trail of his former tormentor.
Adam Bessa is notably winner of the “Un Certain Regard” Prize, competitive parallel section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for his role Ali in “Harka”, a fiction feature film (90′), written and directed by the American-born Egyptian Lotfy Nathan. Shot in the Tunisian South, this first feature film by the director is a co-production between Tunisia, France, Luxembourg and Belgium.
In addition, the Tunisian film projects “The Trial of Leila” and “Exile” were awarded prizes at the 7th edition of the “CineGouna Funding” program, the project development and co-production platform of the El Gouna Film Festival.
“Leila’s Trial” had a $10,000 cash grant from Shahid. This project is a Tunisian-French co-production directed by Charlie Kouka and produced by Cyrine Sellami and Dora Bouchoucha (Nomadis Images). This is Charlie Kouka’s first feature film which was previously presented at the 15th session of La Fabrique Cinéma of the French Institute at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Two cash grants were awarded to the “Exile” project carried out by Mehdi Hmili. This co-production by Moufida Fedhila and Mehdi Hmili won $10,000 from the El Gouna Festival and $5,000 from Sard, in addition to $10,000 in color grading services from Shift Studios.
The list of winners of this program dedicated to Arab cinema includes a total of $400,000 in prizes awarded to 21 film projects. 40 Prizes in the form of financial support and services were awarded by the El Gouna Film Festival and its partners.
This year’s El Gouna Film Festival welcomed a selection of 71 films from 40 countries, including 55 feature-length fiction and documentaries and 16 short films. Films directed by women represent 44% of the selection.
