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Tunisian filmmakers are making the most of newfound freedoms to tackle issues banished for decades from the silver screen, prompting a post-revolution cinema revival.
“Since 2011, one of the most tangible benefits we’ve seen is the ability to talk about all topics, especially themes of society, our daily life, its complexity and its richness,” said producer Habib Attia. “In cinema it pays to have that sincerity.”
Just two or three films a year were released during the 2000s, but the industry has rebounded since the 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. A dozen feature films are now made each year and new cinemas are opening up.
Some 2,00,000 people flocked to the cinema this year to watch El Jaida by filmmaker and activist Salma Baccar about the fight for women’s rights in Tunisia.
Such box office figures are the highest in 15 years, said Lassaad Goubantini, one of Tunisia’s leading film distributors.
Mehdi Barsaoui, a Tunisian director, said filmmakers are “no longer forced to skirt” rules imposed by the former regime “through unsaid things and metaphors”.
His first feature film examines organ trafficking between Tunisia and Libya in the chaos after the two countries’ revolutions, which is being shot in Tunisian studios and the country’s south.
“The renaissance is due to the closeness of the writers” to reality, Mr. Barsaoui said.
The country’s filmmakers have also seen success abroad, with Mohamed Ben Attia’s Hedi, a love story set in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, picking up an award at the 2016 Berlin film festival.
Last year, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Beauty and the Dogs, about a Tunisian woman seeking justice after being raped, was screened at Cannes before its international release.
‘Diamond in the rough’
But creative clout is not enough to entirely revamp an industry, with the business side also needing modernisation.
“Now each release is accompanied by promotional campaigns, previews, screenings with debates and screenings in the regions,” said Mr. Goubantini, the distributor.
As a result, attendance at film screenings has increased by 10 to 15% each year since 2012, according to figures from distribution firm Hakka. But it is hard to compile accurate figures, with no electronic ticketing system in place and no clear relationship between producers and distributors.
“We have a diamond in the rough, but it still needs to be cut,” said Kais Zaied, a young co-founder of Hakka which was launched in 2013.
The biggest challenge in Tunisia is the shortage of cinemas. From just a handful in 2012, the country now has around 15. But there is still a long way to go, as Hakka co-founder Amal Saadallah estimates Tunisia needs at least 100 cinemas to create a strong industry.
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