Today is the opening of the first Tunisian Film Festival in Hollywood. It is first and foremost a commemoration of the Tunisian revolution, which surprised and shook the world, ushering in insurrections and revolts whose reverberations were heard from Cairo to New York. Secondly, it is also an opportunity to bring together Tunisians in the United States and Tunisia around a common project of exchange and dialogue with American audiences in the mecca of the film industry, Hollywood.
The festival opens on 10 January with a performance by the San Francisco-based Tunisian artist, MC Rai, best known for his song “Hen`alina” (“Have Mercy on Us”), followed by the screening of The Project, a film by Mohamed Ali Nahdi. The festival continues with other screenings and performances through Thursday, 12 January in the Barnsdall Gallery Theater on the renowned Hollywood Boulevard.
Of note is a documentary on the poet of revolt, Abul-Qasim al-Shabbi, and a closing performance by the talented rock star Emel Mathlouthi who most famously sang “Kilmti Horra” (“My Word is Free”) on Avenue Bourguiba the day Ben Ali took refuge in Saudi Arabia.
The festival is initiated by a young association by the name of FreeTunisia. More info on the festival can be found here, here, and here.
For more on Tunisian film, see Nouri Gana’s article “Essential Viewing: Five Tunisian Films from a Revolutionary Perspective,” published on Jadaliyya last year.