Tunisian Tales

Misunderstood

1983 · ★ 6.5

A workaholic father becomes sole parent to his two young sons, and finds it hard to relate to them, consumed as he is with his own grief.

Rukis erster Sommer

Nine-year-old Sarah spends her summer holidays alone with her dad in Tunisia for the first time and saves a soup chicken from the pot. Together they embark on an adventure in the desert, and in the midst of an impenetrable sandstorm, Sarah begins to see clearly for the first time.

Love Times Three

1973 · ★ 3.8

Nadine finally wants to be deflowered, but she has no success in Germany. Consequently, she visits her mother in Tunisia.

Lilia, a Tunisian Girl

2016

Lilia is a girl with magnetic, hypnotic and rare beauty that gives her a power of seduction which she uses and abuses with impunity, until the day she falls madly in love with her alter-ego.

The Loss of Sexual Innocence

1999 · ★ 5.6

The story of the sexual development of a filmmaker through three stages of his life.

Streams

2023 · ★ 5.2

Amel is released from prison after an adulterous affair. In the violent streets of Tunis, Amel seeks her missing son Moumen, a young football player destroyed by the scandal. During her journey, Amel has to face Tunisian society in ruins.

The Sultan of the Medina

1993 · ★ 7.2

A community of people rejected by society live in an abandoned residence located in a "Medina": an old town in Tunisia. Al Bab, a local criminal running the residence's prostitution circle, returns from prison on his wedding day. Fraj, his brother and the town warlock, falls in love with Ramla, his brother's future wife: He is the only man of the residence who has seen her face, as she is kept prisoner in one of the rooms until the wedding night.

Somewhere I Belong

2025

After years of absence, a man comes back to a hometown that no longer feels like his, pushing him to question identity, memory, and the meaning of home.

Samra's Dollhouse

2025

A heartbroken Tunisian film director finds the perfect male lead for her new romance movie, but during rehearsals the young actor begins to suspect that his role may not be a fictitious one.

The Guest

2017 · ★ 1

Even though he's been living with Fouad for three years, Malik is going to marry Halima. Since Fouad doesn't accept this marriage, which would imply a total upheaval of their everyday life, Malik makes him promise not to attend the wedding, which will take place in his parents’ village. As the ceremony approaches, the pressure builds. Will Malik choose to save face in front of his family and the wedding guests or will he choose to save the relationship with the one he loves?

Zaa, the Little White Camel

1960 · ★ 8.3

Zaa follows the journey of a white camel returning to the oasis it calls home and finds an unlikely ally in a young boy. With Zaa, Bellon shows another side of herself, the lover of animals and children, in a land far from France.

Tunis by Night

2017 · ★ 6

After more than two decades working for Tunisia national public radio, Youssef is on his way to retirement. Somewhere in the town of Sidi Bouzid, a young man sets himself on fire. Youssef is viciously cut off broadcasting during the last issue of "Tunis by night". As he leaves the radio station, he gets picked up by a police patrol car waiting for him and he spends a few hours in police custody. Amal (his wife) finds refuge again in prayer and the elder brother Amin, tries to put his family's pieces back together as well as he can. Their youngest daughter Aziza lives completely disconnected from the pace and values of her family. She cuts her veins after a cascade of problems. Revolted but silent, Youssef takes refuge at the "Saint George", the adjacent bar he has been a patron forever. He empties his mind after emptying a few bottles of wine. Youssef then runs away from his family to be engulfed by a city he does not recognize anymore.