The Tunisian Ministry of Cultural Affairs announced, on April 18, 2025, the appointment of Tarek Ben Chaâbane to the General Directorate of Carthage Cinematographic Days (JCC). He succeeded the filmmaker and criticism of the Boughedir, appointed honorary president of the JCC 2024. This new designation places at the head of the festival a familiar figure of the Tunisian cinematographic landscape.
A academic and cinephile committed
Tarek Ben Chaâbane is a doctor of sociology and teaches the sociology of the media as well as the theories of cinema at the Higher School of Audiovisual and Cinema (ESAC) in Gammarth. He was also a film critic, cultural editor and screenwriter, collaborating in particular on projects such as El Ziara, the black moon (de Naceur Ktari, 2014) and Always Brando (De Ridha Béhi, 2011).
In addition to his contributions as an author and teacher, he played an important role in Tunisian cultural institutions. He directed the Tunisian Cinémathèque between 2020 and 2022, during which he supervised the creation of the Mohamed-Mahfoudh library, inaugurated in 2021 in tribute to the journalist, screenwriter and film critic Mohamed Mahfoudh (1945–2005). This library, the first of its kind in Tunisia, brings together more than 1,600 works and documents, and includes a projection room dedicated to specialized students and researchers.
Tarek Ben Chaâbane knows the cogs of the JCC well: he was the general delegate in 2010, and artistic director in 2017. His appointment in 2025 therefore constitutes a return to a function that he has already exercised in different forms.
JCC: a pioneering festival in the Arab and African world
Created in 1966 by Tahar Cheriaa’s critic and filmmaker, Carthage’s film days are the oldest film festival in the Arab world and the African continent. The mission is, from their origin, to promote Arab and African cinemas, often marginalized in large diffusion circuits.
The festival was organized every two years until 2014, before becoming annual. He helped to make known major figures of southern cinema, such as Ooumane Sembène, Youssef Chahine, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Moufida Tlatli or Abderrahmane Sissako. The Tanit d’Or, the highest distinction given to Carthage, is considered one of the most important prices for filmmakers on the African continent and the Arab world.
The festival has established itself as a meeting place for professionals, moviegoers, researchers and criticism. Despite the structural difficulties he has sometimes faced – budgetary constraints, organizational challenges, institutional reforms – the JCC remain an essential reference in the region.
The 36th edition of Carthage Cinematographic Days will take place from December 13 to 20, 2025,
Neïla Driss
