It was during a reception given to the Tunisia Consulate in Nice in May 2016 that I had heard of the first time Tunisian cinema festival in Cannes. This festival, which was in its first edition, had been very successful: The public, mainly French, had come en masse to attend the projections.
Then I was still interested in this festival when I saw it A way to promote Tunisia intelligently.
Mr. and Mrs. Patrice Dalix, members of the Cine-Croisette association and organizers of the Tunisian Cinema Festival in Cannes, were among the guests of the 28th Edition of Carthage’s cinematographic days.
Why are you attending Carthage’s cinematographic days?
We were fortunate to be officially invited to the JCC two consecutive years because we created a Tunisian cinema festival in Cannes. This festival takes place as part of the actions of a big association of film buffs called Ciné-Croisette. This association, which has around 550 members, has among its activities the organization of film festivals per country. Currently we have a festival for seven countries, including China, Japan and Quebec.
My wife and I have created the Tunisian cinema festival 3 years ago now: for a week, every evening, we are planning a Tunisian feature film, generally a fiction. Then, a debate takes place, which allows not only to talk about the film, but also of Tunisia and thus give the French the opportunity to know it better. To this end, as far as possible, we invite directors and possibly actors to participate and enrich the discussions.
Are these projections and debates open to the public or only reserved for members of the association?
We pass the films in the two most important cinemas of Cannes, which are the Arcades and the Olympia, multiplex from 200 to 300 places per room. We do a CNC ticket office (National Cinema Center). In France, all tickets are the same in all cinemas: a part of the price is collected by the CNC, which allows it to subsidize films, and on what remains 50% goes to the cinema and 50% goes to the film (producer, distributor, director, etc.).
Voluntarily, we are open to the city. That is to say that for each evening, there are around 120 to 130 members of the association, but also 80 to 90 spectators who have been passers-by who have seen the poster for a week and who come to attend the projection.
In addition, there is a very important Tunisian community. The Consul General of Tunisia in Nice and Monaco told us that there were 85,000 Tunisians who lived in the department of the Alpes Maritimes, which is enormous.
The first year, it was a bit difficult to have contacts with these Tunisians but then we started to have very good relationships with them and we even had 4 small Tunisian sponsors who participated in the festival. We are sure that from year to year, there will be more and more Tunisians living in the Cannes region who will want to come.
We emphasize that the festival’s goal is not only to project films, but also and above all that there is a debate and that this debate goes beyond the subject of the film to tackle problems that we all know today. The goal is that the French have a better knowledge of Tunisia.
We have a lot of contacts with the Tunisian authorities and that is why we were offered to come and work a week here in Tunis so that among the films we will see, we can select those that would be likely to enter the framework of our festival.
So you attend the JCC to see the Tunisian films that you could program?
To speak roughly, we came to “do our market”.
With the directors, we always get along. They give their agreement easily. It is more complicated with producers and distributors: some distribute in Tunisia but cannot do it in France, or have a distributor in France too greedy … Fortunately the CNC authorizes the festival to be an occasional distributor, that is to say that for an event, it is necessary to fill in a form and in fifteen days they tell us if they agree or not and in general they agree.
So, finally you can go directly through Tunisian distributors?
Yes, and they don’t know it. We therefore explain to them that we can be occasional or event distributors, without being forced to go through another distributor in France.
How do you finance this festival?
In terms of means, We have a help, not only substantial, but in more friendly and very voluntary on the part of the consul general of Tunisia in Nice and in Monaco, a small aid from the city of Cannes, And we also have a participation of monks of the Lérins Islands, Who have very good income because they produce a very good wine and olive oil.
Why do these monks help you?
To try to deal with current problems, there is a concept that is very fashionable in France at the moment: “Learn to live together”.
So for these monks, cinema is a way to learn tolerance and cohabitation?
It’s clever on their part, but that is indeed that.
What films have you liked the most?
Northern From Walid Mattar is very interesting insofar as a possible emigrant, economic or not, will realize that in France as there are as many problems as in Tunisia to find work, etc … The idea of having done a cross writing, that is to have two Tunisian and French protagonists, who have problems and are both unemployed is a very interesting writing. I am not talking about the quality of the film, because as much as the Tunisian part is lively and light, as much the French part is heavy.
Afterwards Mustafa Z of Nidhal Chatta. The problems posed are very strong. Furthermore, for a long time it has been said that in the Arab-Muslim countries, the woman was enslaved compared to man, but Tunisia is the first Arab-Muslim country which made efforts so that women obtain a certain freedom and the idea of this film is that sometimes it turns against the husband. It is the story of a woman who has a good job, hostess of the air on Tunis Air, and her husband who is kind, calm, a little sad … He does not feel so useful and by a competition of circumstances, he becomes a hero, he regenerates himself by saying: I am a man, my country has problems, I must participate, etc …
There are also documentary films. There is one that surprised us: A caravan in the desert From Sonia Kichah, a kind of road movie. It is a train that starts with people on board, we see their faces, it is the 5 protagonists of this film, young people between 20 and 25 years old, who talk about their personal situations, their work when they have one, from the gaze of people … Everyone tells their life. There are two dancers, a housewife, an artist who makes graffiti, and especially a Salafist who was really interviewed in a clear and radical way. There were good questions.
Have you seen the film Jaida of Salma Baccar and did you appreciate it?
Moderately. Concerning Jaidathe subject is extraordinary. We liked the final scene when 50 years later, a woman delivered a speech to the Constituent Assembly.
But on the historical level, there is an error or a cheating, because in this kind of prison or correction house, there was a classes problem, that is to say that there was a type of house for each social class. Indeed, women who came from different social backgrounds did not mix with each other.
In addition, this film does not give off any emotion. We see sequences of each character, it is sometimes a little too much to rose water, sometimes completely terrifying and after there are these species of political approaches with Bourguiba who arrives. It’s not very good. We are not interested in this film.
What do you think of this JCC edition?
The characteristic of JCC is that it is the only big festival in which there is an osmosis between the film which is screened and the spectators. These react in real time. It’s alive. It’s extraordinary. This does not exist anywhere else.
And besides this year from this point of view, it is better successful than last year when the JCCs were cut in two, there were on the one hand projections in the city center and on the other hand inside the Palais des Congres, which is a slightly cold space. This year, there is a unit of place that makes you go everywhere on foot and live this atmosphere of the festival.
Last year, the opening ceremony started an hour and a half late because we had to go from the Africa hotel at the Palais des Congrès by car. On the other hand, this year, the idea of the red carpet of the hotel at the Colosseum was great. In addition, it allowed people to see the guests pass. Even if they don’t know them all, they are happy. The staging of the entrance to the Colosseum, with this huge tunnel and these chandeliers was remarkable.
On the other hand, on the technical level there are two problems:
- Putting a short film and a feature film together could have been a good idea, but the problem is that this lengthens the duration of the session. This means that the last screening is always offset and starts with at least an hour late. In addition, with regard to the Colosseum hall, which has more than 1,400 seats, so that spectators go out and enter, it takes about 40 minutes each time, time which was not taken into account during the development of the program.
- We had the impression that we had an almost permanently bodyguard. All the time he gently came to ask us: Are you okay, there is no problem? Do you need something?
We forgot his first name, it is a young person who is part of the organizers’ team. We know that it started with a good feeling, but it was a little too much, we felt almost watched.
As for us, this year we are very satisfied, we have seen many interesting films and have had several contacts.
This invitation to the JCC is a gift that has been given to us, we hope to return it by organizing a beautiful third edition of the Tunisian Cinema Festival in Cannes.
Neïla Driss
Read on the same subject:
