After short films made with the Tunisian federation of amateur filmmakers (FTCA) between 2005 and 2008, Sami Tlili produced his first documentary feature in 2012 Cursed be phosphate Who won the Arab World Documentary Prize at the Abu Dhabi Film Film Festival. Sur the transversalhis second documentary feature film, was selected in competition feature documentary films at the JCC 2019 – Session Nejib Ayed.
Synopsis For the collective memory of Tunisians, 1978 is the unwavering memory of this famous national football team and its “epic towards Argentina”. An intergenerational myth that marked out my childhood accompanied by an intriguing question long remained unanswered: Why was my mother refused to watch football?
What if in the end of 1978 was not just a football story?
Reading the synopsis, we could expect an austere documentary, perhaps even a tight rebuilding, which would speak of football matches, training of sportsmen…. And perhaps other events that would have marked this year 1978. In fact, from the first minute, we realize that it is a personal film that we really take pleasure in watching, especially that the tone is light, the director having perfectly managed to deal with a serious subject, with great tenderness and a touch of humor.
On the transversal is therefore a captivating film, which tells, by nested them, the union crisis of 1978 and the participation of Tunisia in the 1978 World Cup.
Why link these two exceptional events in the history of Tunisia?
For Sami Tlili, it was almost imposed. Indeed, when he was a kid, he often heard about Tunisia’s participation in the World Cup in Argentina. He even thought that Tunisia had won this cup. It was only much later that he learned reality. But still something turlupin it. He did not understand why his mother did not watch the games, when she had three boys at home and a husband who loved football. He had later discovered that his mother had been a trade unionist … He also learned that the chance in history had made two important events had taken place in Tunisia in Tunisia. On the one hand, a tense atmosphere at the end of the reign, dissensions between different clans, violent social disputes, with an escalation of the crisis between the UGTT and the government which gave rise to a general strike, but at the same time a movement of solidarity, pride and belonging of all the people on the occasion of the participation of Tunisia in the Football World Cup.
On the transversal is not a film that objectively tells events. These are very real, and documented, but the director has his own a look and leaves his personal imprint, mixing memories of childhood and personal remarks with testimonies and archives.
Some of these testimonies are also very moving, such as that of Fathi Hadj Yahyia, when he talks about solidarity between prisoners and jailers in football matches. Paradoxically, the prisoners had at their disposal a TV to watch these important matches, and not the jailers who therefore invited themselves into the cells. And during these magical moments, they forgot their conditions of prisoners and jailers to become just Tunisians who watch their national team play a match and try to qualify for the final.
Sami Tlili explained that he had a lot of problems to find archives in Tunisia, especially in good condition. For example, there are no more archives of certain matches. It was therefore necessary to recover these images of matches from individuals who had them in VHS and sometimes even use extracts from the film fiction A ball and dreams Directed by Mohamed Ali Okbi in 1978. Other images had to be recovered in France.
On the transversal is a beautiful work of memory. Both for those who lived these 1978 events, as well as for current and future generations. There is an obvious link between these events from the past and the current situation. Besides, the film begins with extracts on the 2018 World Cup and on the late Béji Caïd Sebsi who talks about general strike by saying that she is dangerous. The present joins the past in some ways. The fall of the film, with TEMIME, who almost scored, but whose ball just hit the transversal, could confirm it. Without forgetting that young people could see that the struggle for democracy and freedoms is not new in Tunisia.
On The transversal will be screened :: – Wednesday October 30 at 8:30 p.m. at the theater of the regions (Cité de la Culture); – Thursday October 31 at 3:00 p.m. at the Le Rio cinema; – Friday, November 1 at 6:00 p.m. at Cinémadart (Carthage). It will be distributed in theaters from November 3, 2019.
Neila Driss
