Tunis, August 24 (TAP)- The Tunisia Mediterranean Film Festival “Manarat” are 80 guests, 30 films, 10 countries and 4 beaches of 4 cities for projections (Ezzahra (South suburbs), La Goulette (North suburb), Hammamet (Cap Bon) and Bizerte to the north) with forecasts that table 5000 entries.
After two successful editions of the Manarat festival in 2018 and 2019 under the direction of Chiraz Laatiri and Dorra Bouchoucha, this festival had to mark a break of two consecutive years due to the world pandemic of the COVID19.
For its third edition chaired by Nidhal Chatta to be held from August 30 to September 2, 2022, Manarat is working to allow cinema professionals but also artistic directors of festivals already well established in the Mediterranean such as the Cinemed de Montpellier or the Festival of Mediterranean Cinema of Tetouan, to garner the dialogue between the two banks of the Mediterranean. Rethinking this festival and its humanist aspirations is the key word. Putting concerns at the heart the need to commit to ecology, the safeguarding of biodiversity and the conservation of natural spaces becomes a primordial imperative.
Finally, will be offered to the public of Manarat a selection of the best films from all over the Mediterranean, long and short, as well as the films of young directors freshly graduated or simply self -taught.
At the heart of the Mediterranean, this pond nostrum, scene of the great ancient epics and tragedies, Tunisia, wants to be against all a land of exchanges and meetings, hope and creativity. To succeed in this challenge, the idea is to federate young talents from the whole Mediterranean around Manarat, the metaphorical lighthouse of this youth and its aspirations, notably through the cinema to invest the beach space and its horizon, to commune with the public, the sea and art.
The 100th anniversary of cinema in Tunisia: a bridge between the future and the past
In order to build a future, it is necessary to know its past. Nietzsche even said that to generate the future it was necessary to fertilize the past. In this perspective, Manarat, as the steering committee stressed at a press conference organized this Wednesday at Ennejma Ezzahra, wished for its 2022 edition to celebrate the hundred years of Tunisian cinema and remind the younger generations they are and where they come from. Thus, the guests of the festival and the public will be able to create links, exhibit, debate and discover this country where the Lumière brothers made their first films at the end of the 19th century.
In this context, a tribute will be paid to the memory of the pioneer of Tunisian cinema Albert Samama Chikly and his first short film shot in 1922. Besides, this centenary will be celebrated in the Palais du Baron d’Erlanger, who also celebrates his centenary this year, the very space where scenes of his film were shot Aïn Ghazal In the Persian garden of the Palais in 1923. The latter, which became the center of Arab and Mediterranean music, welcomed several other films during its hundred years of existence and not least. Thus Lotfi Essid, Alberto Negrini, Ferid Boughedir and Jerry Shatzberg have shot scenes that have become cult. On this occasion, the Manarat festival will project an unprecedented documentary film directed by Lotfi Bahri retracing the strongest moments of Tunisian cinema. Panorama: one hundred years of Tunisian cinema will thus be presented worldwide at the ceremony organized on this occasion at the Palais du Baron d’Erlanger.
Exhibition “The hundred years of film in photo”
To announce the centenary of the first screening of the Tunisian film Zohra From Samama Chikly released on December 21, 1922 in Tunis, the Manarat festival and the Association Ciné-Sud Patrimoine with the support of the Cinémathèque de Bologne organize an exhibition of 100 photos on the world of this pioneer of photo and cinema. The emphasis will be put on his film Zohra With photos of the shooting and her main actress Haydée Tamzali who is none other than her daughter. She was only 16 years old at the time. The photos of this exhibition set up by the filmmaker Mohamed Challouf, come from the bottom Samama Chikly who, since 2015 is kept at the Cinémathèque de Bologne with those of other large filmmakers like Charlie Chaplin, Pierre Paolo Pasolini or Bernardo Bertolucci.
And because Manarat is a festival which is not only limited to film screenings, it also wants to be a springboard for Mediterranean filmmakers. The Manarat project with its “Manarat Camp”, the Masterclass and the Round Tables will take place during this special edition in the Palais du Baron d’Erlanger.
Eight to ten young, freshly graduated directors from all the Mediterranean space will be selected in order to participate in training days with the projections of their films. The goal is to help these hopes for tomorrow’s cinema to consider a professional career. Their films will be analyzed by professional and university speakers. The filmmakers will also have access to all the projections and activities of the festival.
The masterclass “from the fixed image to the underwater image: looks and technicality” is thus a training platform dedicated to young filmmakers from all over the Mediterranean. The Masterclass will offer an intense and targeted program for young people and all those interested in the cinema and audiovisual professions. These master-classes will be three in number: on August 31 “Filming under the seas” by Nidhal Chatta / Slim Medimegh, September 1 “The shooting: Development on a variable profession” with Hassen Amri and September 2 “Image and films with small budgets”: case study with Imed Aissaoui. The “culture and biodiversity” round tables which will be held on September 1, will be an opportunity to unite operators from the whole Mediterranean for a day of collaboration and exchange.
Press release
