Opening of the JCC Carthage Film Festival. (Photo: JCC's Facebook Page)
This year’s edition, running from 14 to 21 December, is dedicated to Palestinian cinema. It presents a special programme titled "Palestine at the Heart of the JCC."
The initiative highlights the struggles and resilience of the Palestinian people, with a tribute to renowned filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad.
The festival is a key event in Tunisia’s cultural calendar, and it welcomes entries exclusively from Arab and African directors.
This year, it will showcase more than 200 films from 21 countries in four main competitions: feature narrative films, feature documentary films, short narrative films, and short documentary films.
Tunisian cinema will also be prominent at the JCC, with 99 works showcased. Four Tunisian feature films will compete in the official competition.
One of those films is Borj Roumi by director Moncef Dhouib. This film is inspired by a notorious prison in Tunisia where opponents of the regime imposed by Tunisian leaders Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali were tortured, with some even dying there.
"The films in competition were selected in accordance with the identity of this festival," AFP quoted the JCC's artistic director Lamia Belkaied as saying.
The festival is aimed to be "the voice of just causes and humanist values," it added.
Furthermore, the JCC will pay tribute to other cinematic figures such as Algerian Merzak Allouache, Iranian Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and Senegalese Ababacar Samb Makharam.
The Carthage Film Festival returns after its 2023 edition was cancelled by the Ministry of Culture when Israel's war on Gaza erupted on 7 October 2023.
The cancellation came "in solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and in light of the critical humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, following the brutal Zionist aggression," a ministry statement explained.
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