Best Tunisian documentary movies

VHS - Kahloucha (2006)

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

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.

After a Swim (2023)

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

We Knew How Beautiful They Were, These Islands (2021)

A dark and enigmatic ritual in which a solitary figure moves through a desert burial ground. The objects left behind speak their own silent language.

Le chant du millénaire (2002)

A Thousand and One Voices: The Music of Islam (2001)

A musical journey from Tunisia to Cairo, and from Rajasthan to Istanbul and Senegal in search of Islamic music sources. The film delves into the world of Sufism by focusing on the close relationship between learning music and passing on this art through generations.

Three Characters in Search of a Theater (1988)

This film raises a cry of alarm against the plan to destroy the Municipal Theater of Tunis, a neoclassical building built at the beginning of the 20th century. In this film, Kalthoum Bornaz recreates selected scenes from the history of this historical theater. Therefore, having the opportunity to save one of the gems of Tunisia's heritage, which represents an architectural memory of the colonial era that marked the physical and ideological landscape of Tunisia.

Sweat (1986)

SUEUR is one of only two films to be kept in the archive of the Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 8mm format. It was shown in competition at the 34th Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 1988, submitted by director Amor Nagazi, as he recalls it, on his own initiative. The jury of the FIPRESCI International Federation of Film Critics awarded SUEUR a second prize. In accordance with festival regulations, the award resulted in the purchase of the film for the archive. At the time, director Amor Nagazi was a member of an amateur film club in his hometown of Kairouan, Tunisia. SUEUR was his first film, shot on Super 8 with the help of a small team of friends from the film club. Step by step, the film documents the artisanal production of mud bricks, which were once used to build not only the majority of buildings in Kairouan, but also the imposing city wall.