For the second consecutive year and on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, the presentation of the next edition of Carthage cinematographic days (JCC) held yesterday at a press conference held at the Tunisian pavilion in Cannes.
Journalists, film critics, producer, distributors, festival directors and other cinema professionals were numerous to have responded to the invitation sent to them.
Mr. Nejib Ayed, Director General of JCCs for the 2017 and 2018 editions began by welcoming the presents and announced the date of the next edition to be held from November 4 to 11, 2017.
He then explained the choice of the Cannes Film Festival for the holding of this press conference: to benefit precisely from the presence of so many professionals in Cannes, to talk to them about the festival, but also to exchange with them.
He also exhibited his future vision for this festival and more precisely for the next two editions. For him, this festival which is now 51 years old (although he prefers to say 50+1) must go to another step. This does not mean changing the festival, but rather refocus it by putting it back on the path of militant logic which he had in his creation in 1956. The “bling bling” of recent years will be arrested. The purpose of the festival is to promote and give great visibility to African and Arabic cinema and give the floor to young people and that is what it will do.
This is why the price value of prices has been doubled.
It is also for this reason that it was decided to keep the price Tahar Cheriaa which will no longer be the subject of a specific competition, but will concern the first films in all competitions and will have its own special jury. In fact, it’s a bit like the principle of Golden Camera At the Cannes Film Festival.
Furthermore, Mr. Nejib Ayed recalled that the JCC is a festival which has always been tri-continental, which has been forgotten in recent years. It is for this reason that for this 28th edition, although there is a desire to return to the sources and to enhance African and Arabic cinema, there is also open to other continents. To this end, he announced the creation of two new sections: South America and cinema cinema, devoted in 2017 to the cinema in South Korea and Argentina.
In addition to these two sections, there will also be a focus on Algeria which will represent the Arab world and on South Africa which will represent sub -Saharan Africa.
These sections and focus will not only concern cinema: there will of course be films, but also music, dance, culinary arts, and a special evening will be devoted to each of these countries.
These four small events will be originality of this edition of the JCC.
As for professionals, the two existing workshops will be strengthened and a third will be created in 2018.
The workshop Takmilwhich is in its 4th edition, will be held from November 6 to 8. This workshop allows young producers to be facing a group of experts who assist them. The jury will award post-production support grants to the 8 most promising and more selfish projects, adds Mr. Nejib, the JCC will then benefit from these films which must be shown in priority.
Just as a reminder, the film Beauty and pack by Kaouthar Ben Haniawinner of the CNCI Stock Exchange as part of the 2016 Takmil workshop was selected in official competition, section A certain look in Cannes.
The workshop Network producers will also be held from November 6 to 8. This workshop allows producers of feature films to show their films to other producers and distributors so that they can help them through discussions, advice, meetings….
In 2018, a new workshop will be created: workshop Project development which will give scholarships to producers to help them.
Answering a question that has been asked about the “bling bling” he wants to delete, Mr. Nejib Ayed replied that he was not a question of removing the red carpet, but he will start from Africa to the cinema room where the opening and closing ceremonies will take place. There will be no more cars to take the guests, nor from After evenings to distant hotels. From now on everything will take place at Avenue Habib Bourguiba.
Also questioned about the ticket office and the monster problems encountered by spectators to buy their tickets, Mr. Nejib Ayed replied that unfortunately this year again, the organization will be the same as that of the previous year, with just a few facilities, since everything will be implemented to improve the Internet connection as much as possible and that new points of sale will be open to the various partner hotels of the festival. He recalled that in 2016, there were 180,000 paid admissions and that it was very difficult to manage them and decrease the wait for the huge queues.
In 2018, on the other hand, the whole ticket office will be fully computerized.
A press kit was distributed to the present.
There are in particular the key dates of the festival:
- May 15 Opening of registrations
- May 23 press conference at the Cannes Film Festival at 11 a.m.
- August 1 Closure of registrations for official competition sections
- September 1 Closure of the registration of the Takmil workshop
- September 1 Closing registration at the Producers Network
- October 19 Press conference in Tunis
- November 4 Official Festival opening ceremony
- November 8 Closing of the Takmil workshop
- November 8 Closure of the Producers Network
- November 11 official closing ceremony of the festival
Regarding competitions, which are only open for Arabs and Africans, we find the usual sections:
- Official Competition Fong Fiction and Animation: 15 Arab and African films including 4 Tunisians
- Official competition for documentary feature films: 12 Arab and African films including 4 Tunisians
- Official Competition Courts-Metrages Fiction and Animation: 15 Arab and African films including 4 Tunisians
- Official Competition Courts-Documentary films: 12 Arab and African films including 3 Tunisians
- THE Tahar Cheriaa Prize for the first work is a prize that prevails a first work contributing to the official fiction, animation or documentaries. He is awarded by a special jury
The parallel sections, which besides the workshops, will understand:
- Carthage Ciné Promise
- Tunisian cinema panorama
- Cinema of the World: Allows moviegoers to see the films that have been the most successful in major festivals as well as the discoveries of the year
- JCC in prisons: the adventure initiated in 2015 continues in 5 different prisons. The film teams will move to prisons for debates with the prisoners after projection.
A change is to be observed concerning press accreditations which will be this year of 3 kinds:
- Press accreditation
- Red Carpet accreditation
- Press lunch accreditation
In addition, each morning, there will be three projections of films in competition reserved exclusively for the press.
The word of the end was entrusted to Mr. Fethi Kharrat, president of the National Center of Cinema and the image (CNCI) which confirmed that there will be a homecoming and fundamentals because unfortunately for a few years the JCC, although among the oldest festivals, have tried to imitate other festivals, but it is up to new festivals to imitate the ancients, not the opposite!
Several copies of the book published in 2016 for the Fiftynaire des JCC were distributed to the present.
Neïla Driss
Read on the same subject:
