The 2026 film season will take place on January 7 with the national release of Khedija Lemkecher’s new opus. Entitled âBelles de Nuitâ, this film is a production of Cercina Films with the support of several public and private partners. Before its Tunisian release, this work distinguished itself by winning two prizes at the Agadir festival in Morocco.
Khedija Lemkecher’s film won the Directing Prize and the Special Jury Prize for Interpretation, awarded to IlliĂšs Kadri for his role as Yahya, at the 21st Agadir International Cinema and Migration Festival.
According to the synopsis, Djo is the manager of a boxing gym in a difficult and forgotten neighborhood on the outskirts of Tunis. Very ill and tired, he lost hope of seeing a champion born in his old hall. Yet one day while wandering the dead streets of the neighborhood, he meets Yahia, a solitary young man with a passion for boxing. Djo finally thinks he can hold his future champion, but, like all young people, Yahia has only one plan in mind: to leave the country illegally for Italy. Accompanied by a friend, he boards a trawler. Djo, refusing to let go of his champion, goes looking for him.
After her cinema studies in Paris, Khedija Lemkecher began her career as a director of documentaries and fiction films. Khedija Lemkecher’s latest short films âThe night of the blind moonâ and âBolbolâ were selected and awarded at several international festivals such as Cinemed, Diff Dubai, Filmfest Houston, Festival des CinĂ©mas Arabes, Aflam du Sud. She has also been a jury member of several festivals, including PRIMED (France) JCC (Tunisia) and IAWRT Film Festival (Philippines).
Khedija Lemkecher’s new film takes its title from the favorite flowers of Yahia, an essential character in this work. The latter actually likes to isolate himself at the edge of Lake Sedjoumi, surrounded by these beautiful night flowers that we call âNaouar Achiaâ. Note among the performers in the film the presence of Fatma Ben SaĂŻdane, Younes Megri and Bahri Rahali.
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