JCC 2025 – Tribute evening to Claudia Cardinale: Tunisia in the heart

As part of the 36th edition of the Carthage Cinematographic Days (JCC), which takes place from December 13 to 20, 2025, a particularly moving evening was dedicated to the memory of Claudia Cardinale, “ the most beautiful Italian woman in Tunis », disappeared a few months ago. Presented by Tarek Ben Chaabane, this tribute evening brought together a very large audience who came to salute an icon of world cinema, deeply attached to Tunisia, the country of his birth and heart.

The evening was divided into three parts: The Golden Rings (1956) by René Vautier and Mustapha El Fersi, the short film which marked Claudia Cardinale’s first appearance on the screen; Claudia Cardinale: The most beautiful Italian in Tunis (1994) by MaMahmoud Ben Mahmoud; and finally Claudia Cardinale: Tunisia… splendor and beauty (2025) by Lotfi Bahri, dedicated to the actress. A superb poster was designed especially for this celebration, symbolizing the beauty, memory and eternity of a legendary actress.

Tarek Ben Chaabane opened the evening by discussing the uniqueness of Claudia Cardinale’s journey and the unwavering bond that united her to Tunisia. Lotfi Bahri then took the floor to share a personal memory: “I met Claudia Cardinale while she was filming Jesus of Nazareth (1977) by Franco Zeffirelli in Monastir. Since then, a long friendship has linked us. I wanted my film to talk about her relationship with Tunisia and the deep love she had for it. » He also stressed that he was celebrating his fifty years of career that evening, an anniversary that he wanted to dedicate to all those who accompanied him over the years.

Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud, for his part, presented his 1994 film, an essential documentary dedicated to the Italian community in Tunisia. “This community was nowhere to be found, neither in history books nor in our archives. I wanted to save a memory that was going to fade,” he explained. “I started by filming Italians living near Radès, elderly people whose testimony was precious and whose memory would have disappeared with their disappearance. » He said he contacted Claudia Cardinale on this occasion: “I went to Italy, I met Bruno Cardinale and other members of his family. Claudia was filming abroad at the time, but I saw her again in Paris. She was to appear in this 52-minute documentary. »

This film was screened for the first time during a tribute to the 1994 JCC, in the presence of Claudia Cardinale and her family. “We organized the screening at Carthage Cathedral. It was a highlight. I discovered on this occasion that Claudia was my neighbor at the Airport, in the northern suburbs of Tunis. We shared common memories,” he added. During a testimony, Claudia revealed that it was in this same cathedral that she had received her communion!

The documentary, initially planned to be broadcast on RAI 3, was finally programmed in prime time on RAI 1. It remains an essential work of memory on a long-forgotten Italian community in Tunis. “Luckily I had time to film these former members before their voices disappeared,” said Ben Mahmoud. For the JCC evening, only the part of the documentary devoted to Claudia Cardinale was presented.

The room, almost full, bore witness to the emotion and attachment of the Tunisian public to the woman who never denied her origins. Lotfi Bahri’s film will also be broadcast today in prime time on national television.

Through the images and testimonies projected, a deep and sincere love shone through: that which Claudia Cardinale had for Tunisia, the country of her family for three generations. In all her statements, she spoke about it with infinite tenderness, evoking her childhood memories, her family, her roots and her attachment to this land. Born in La Goulette, at a time when this neighborhood embodied the harmonious coexistence of several communities and religions united by their love of the country, she grew up in this spirit of openness and tolerance. At that time, no one asked the other about their religion or beliefs.

Claudia lived her first eighteen years in Tunis. She then spoke Sicilian, Arabic and French, but did not speak Italian – a detail that she often recalled with amusement, specifying that, during her first trip to Venice, she had had communication difficulties for this reason.

“I was born under a lucky star,” she said, and she was right. Around the age of sixteen or seventeen, she was hired for a small role in The Golden Ringsfilmed in Mahdia. The film also won the Youth Film Award for Best Short Film for Young People at the 1959 Berlin Film Festival. Although her appearance there is brief, Claudia has a close-up on her luminous face – perhaps this smile convinced Jacques Baratier and Omar Sharif to wait for him in front of his Paul Cambon high school in Tunis to offer him a role in Goha ? Maybe so!

But her career really took off when a decisive coincidence changed her life: while helping her mother, a member of a charity organization, at a charity event, Claudia was pushed onto the podium and voted “the most beautiful Italian in Tunis”. This title earned him a trip to the Venice Film Festival. She later recounted that in Venice, she felt a little lost, not yet speaking Italian, but that her Tunisian roots had brought her luck: she then wore traditional Tunisian clothes, like a burnouswhich distinguished her from the others and attracted the attention of photographers. This visibility allowed her to appear in several major magazines, illustrated with magnificent photos of her, which helped to launch her image and attract the attention of the world of cinema.

A minor at the time, she needed authorization from her father, who, initially reluctant, refused to let his daughter go abroad alone. Eventually he traveled to Italy to sign the contracts on his behalf. This is how Claudia Cardinale’s international career began.

Another moving testimony was that of the great Mouna Noureddine, who also made her debut in The Golden Rings then in Gohabut whose career had not taken on the same international dimension. “To each his own star!” », she confided with emotion and a smile.

What emerges strongly from the two documentaries screened is Claudia Cardinale’s visceral attachment to Tunisia, a love that she got from her parents and which she passed on to her children. She spoke to them about her origins, often took them to Tunisia, showed them around different regions, in particular Tozeur, which she loved for the silence of the desert and the serenity of the palm groves. She said she loved palm trees because they connected her to “home.” At his parents’ house, even when they lived in Italy, the cuisine remained Tunisian: mloukhiyacouscous and other traditional dishes. Claudia’s roots were deeply Tunisian, and it was in Tunisia that she came to recharge her batteries whenever she felt the need.

And destiny, once again, has come full circle: her very first roles were in Tunisian films, and her last role also took her back to her original homeland, in The Island of Forgiveness (2022) by Ridha Behi — a symbolic conclusion for one who was always a woman of the world, but above all, a girl from Tunis.

Neila Driss

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