Best Tunisian movies

Dachra (2019)

Come for Tunisia’s first horror film, following three students’ filmed investigation of weird rumors in a remote village, and stay for the sickening madness, macabre witchcraft, ghastly beheadings, and gory cannibalism.

A Son (2020)

Tunisia, summer 2011. The holiday to the South of the country ends in disaster for Fares, Meriem and their 10-year-old son Aziz, when he is accidentally shot in an ambush. His injury will change their lives: Aziz needs a liver transplant, which leads to discovery of a long-buried secret. Will Aziz and the relationship survive?

Under the Fig Trees (2022)

Among the trees, young women and men working the summer harvest develop new feelings, flirt, try to understand each other, find – and flee – deeper connections.

Filth (2006)

Mounir is a reserved and idle night watchman. On a very lonely night, he finds a strange manner of entering the life of Latifa, his pretty neighbour with whom he is secretly in love. The unusual means will turn him into the secret witness of Latifa's agitated life and will lead him to dangerous extremes of passion.

Butterfly (2017)

A small conservative city young man with passion for filmmaking, enrolls in a photography contest to be admitted to a film school, his contest subject doesn't sit well with the locals.

VHS - Kahloucha (2006)

Documentarian Nejib Belkadhi trails amateur Tunisian filmmaker Moncef Kahloucha as he makes his latest feature, Tarzan of the Arabs.

Printemps tunisien (2014)

Sahbek Rajel (2024)

It follows the story of Azouz and Mahdi, two policemen who are completely different in personality and character. One is reckless and the other is honest and loyal to his family. Their partnership in work leads them to a series of events full of action and comedy.

The Wedding Song (2008)

The Nazi occupation of Tunisia strains the bonds of friendship between a Muslim woman and a Sephardic Jewess who are both preparing for their marriages.

لآخر نفس (2020)

Golden Butterfly (2021)

A policeman with a violent past meets a small boy with whom he undertakes a fantastic journey.

Tomorrow (2022)

Habib and his 15 year old son Ahmed from his previous marriage, are brought together by Habib’s worsening state of health. Habib’s political past during the dictatorship in Tunisia is dangerously affecting his present. The roles are reversed, Ahmed has to protect his father and try to keep him safe. Habib and Ahmed find themselves in a chaotic position that neither is prepared for.

Wanderers of the Desert (1986)

A young teacher arrives to take over a village school isolated in the shimmering desert. Legendary figures materialize out of wells and the desert itself, groups of children hurry through a labyrinth of underground corridors, and the teacher is whisked away to a mysterious rendezvous and never returns.

Bastardo (2013)

Larger-than-life characters populate director Nejib Belkadhi’s spellbinding combination of film noir and magic realism, which follows a downtrodden orphan — now grown but still saddled with a cruel nickname — who has a reversal of fortune and takes on the thugs who control his ghetto.

Choufli Hal, New Year's Movie (2009)

Following the arrival of the New Year, Slimane's wife, Zeineb, suggests spending New Year's Eve in a hotel. Meanwhile, his mother Douja, desperate to have her date canceled, makes a plan with Slimane's mother, Fadhila, to leave with them. The couple then meets for this evening with their mothers, as well as Sboui, his wife Azza and his children. Sboui, Slimane's brother, continues to do stupid things at the hotel which makes the stay unpleasant for the couple. Remaining in Tunis, Fouchika finds himself alone with Béji. He had planned this evening with his friend Sboui but finds himself with his former boss because he is having marital problems. However, Béji receives a phone call from his wife and reconciles with her. Shortly after, Béji leaves to join his wife at her in-laws, leaving Fouchika alone.

The Flower of Aleppo (2016)

Salma is a 37 years old paramedic nurse working in private and public hospitals in Tunisia. When her only son, Murad, go to Syria to join the terrorist movement Al-Nusra Front, Salma infiltrate the jihadists with the aim to bring her son back to Tunisia.

She Had a Dream (2021)

25-year-old Ghofrane dreams of becoming a politician and having an influence on the future of Tunisia. As a young black woman from the working class, it is a dream that requires stamina – and she has plenty of it. Raja Amari’s film follows her up to the election in 2019 when she is on the streets to gather votes and give especially young people renewed faith in democracy in a polarised society plagued by racism and inequality. A smaller film might turn a blind eye on realism in favour of a good story, but here both Ghofrane nor Amari are aware of the exhausting struggles that have to be overcome before she can bring about the change she so fervently longs to see happening. An inspiring film about a true idealist and a rich image of a society full of contrasts.

The TV Is Coming (2006)

The small south Tunisian village of Al-Malga (literally "The Shelter") is spurred into action when a series of phone calls from the capital announce the impending visit of a prestigious production team from German television in the region. Consequently, the town's cultural committee decides to give a positive image of the village and the country and creates an artificial veneer, substantially camouflaging the reality. Chaos ensues as the committee's sycophantic chairman, an ardent feminist, and a number of other unusual characters disagree on the best course of action.

Mustafa Z (2018)

The film traces 24 hours of the life of an ordinary Tunisian, Mustafa, caught up with the absurdity of the system on the eve of the first free presidential elections.

A Bird From Paradise (0)

Meet Amadeus, a charming 50-year-old Italian antique dealer, who finds himself smitten with the stunning Tunisian beauty, Betty (Badra), a woman much his junior. But as their relationship blossoms, a new challenge arises – the in-laws smell opportunity, envisioning a wealthy, doting son-in-law. And an Imam throws a curveball, demanding Amadeus undergo circumcision and convert to Islam. In this cross-cultural clash, will the power of love prevail, or will tradition and family obligations tear the couple apart?

The Needle (2023)

Dali and Mariem are impatiently awaiting the arrival of their first child. On the day of delivery, the doctor tells them that the baby has a rare characteristic. Upset by this news and confronted with his demons, Dali is no longer able to play his role with Mariem and their child.

Isola (2017)

On an island lost between two worlds, Dai, a young Chinese woman, survives alone in a cave, waiting for the baby that swells her womb day after day. Around the harbour which, every day, flurry with the arrival of hundreds of migrants, she searches tirelessly the face of the man she loves, her husband. One, night her wish is to be fulfilled

Benzine (2017)

In southeastern Tunisia, Salem and Halima spend months waiting for news of their son Ahmed, who has been smuggled overseas to Italy.

El Jaïda (2017)

Four women meet at Dar Joued on the eve of Independence. With different ages and social conditions, they are condemned to live together under the authority and injustice of their jailer: "El Jaida". They will share memories of the outside world, joy, emotions and distress of their daily lives.

After a Swim (2023)

a woman getting ready after a swim who happens to get captured by my lenses, farah.

The Son of Amir Is Dead (1977)

Pierre, a young man of Brussels, has lost his job. Unbeknowst to Barbara, the woman he lives with, he has become a pickpocket to survive. He works in partnership with a young Tunisian immigrant he meets every Sunday in an abandoned bus where they share the loot of the week. One day, Pierre finds his accomplice dead in their hiding place. Pierre suddenly realizes that he does not know much about his dead friend. Taking possession of his identity papers, Pierre decides to go to Tunisia to find out who his friend actually was.

Black Medusa (2021)

Nada is a young woman leading a double life. During the daytime she’s quiet and reserved, but after dark she dives into the nightlife of Tunis and picks up men. First, she lets them tell their stories – as she doesn’t speak, she acts as a kind of confidante – then beats the hell out of them. When a new colleague, Noura, arrives at her workplace and Nada finds a mythical knife at the home of one of her victims, events are unleashed over which Nada has less and less control.

The Dilemma (2020)

In the Arab Muslim Tunisia, the film narrates the journey of a religious extremist who escapes from security forces and seeks shelter in the home of a prostitute who helps him deal with the situation despite their conflicting mindsets.

The Pythons: Somewhere in Tunisia, Circa A.D. 1979 (1979)

Ten years ago exactly, more or less, give or take a day or two, six young men sat down, or maybe stood, or perhaps some of them just lounged, and wrote the first episode of a new series called Owl Stretching Time. They were called Graham Chapman , John Cleese, Terry Gilliam , Eric Idle,Terry Jones and Michael Palin and later both they and the series became known as Monty Python 's Flying Circus . Today they are the best known British comedy group in the world, famous from Cathay to Kathmandu, from Sydney to Sidcup (except in Japan where the programme is called The Gay Boys' Dragon Show ... say no more). To commemorate their tenth anniversary a BBC team tracked them down in the deserts of Tunisia where they were filming their Life of Brian and almost persuaded them to examine the genesis, the genius and the gender of Monty Python.

Bolice (2024)