Round table



Carthage Film Festival
Symposium, October 27-28, 2010



Arab women in cinema: image and roles.
Roundtable on Thursday the 27th of October 2010


Arab Women Organization Presidential Award

Mrs Leila Ben Ali, president of the Arab Woman Organization and Tunisian First Lady, has decided to give an award to the best short movie supporting women cause. A special section has been created for this prize which timeline will be synchronized with the 3rd congress of the Arab Woman Organization.
Here are the movies which have been nominated for this award:

  • Ba bord - Ridha Tlili (Tunisia)
  • Congo in Four Acts – Dieudo Hamadi, Divita Wa Lusala, Patrick Ken Kalala, Kiripi Katembo Siku (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
  • Tiraillement - Najwa Slama (Tunisia)
  • La maison d’Angela - Olfa Chakroun (Tunisia)
  • Teta alf marra - Mohamed Kaabour (Lebanon)
  • Promenade - Sabine El Chamaa (Lebanon)
  • Vivre - Walid Tayaa (Tunisia)
  • Mouja - Mohamed Ben Attia (Tunisia)
  • Khouya - Yanis Koussim (Algeria)
  • Pale red - Mohamed HAMMAD (Egypt)
  • Missing - Siwar EL Zrikly (Syria)


The film industry in the Maghreb in the context of the Arab-African today

Design, perception, reception

If current technological, economic and cultural transformations affect the relationship of filmmakers to the practical details and aesthetics of directing their films, these same changes also affect the system of reception and perception of these films. The objective of this symposium is to examine the upheavals that these changes bring about, from the conception of projects to the new means of distribution and how films are received in the South.

This question is as legitimate as that which followed after the emergence of digitalization and the widespread use of digital support, the movie theater disappearing, and the perception of film becoming confused with the new notion of “individual viewing”. As a consequence, the distribution of films no longer follows the traditional triangular model: producer/distributor/movie theater owner. From now on, movie goers find themselves at the heart of a new issue, because of the diverse means of distribution, as well as the many ways in which films circulate, and will change the ways in which these movie viewers look at the films.

Further upstream, these technological changes also affect the creative process and drive filmmakers to modify a large part of their narrative and formal operation.

To debate this problem, we propose three axes around which we will focus this symposium:

I- Conception

Examine the development of digitalization and its effects on the cultural practices associated with film and particularly on the new ideas about film, from the scriptwriter’s ideas to the aesthetic and formal choices.

II- Perception

To move from the current state of affairs to new practices of “viewing” and their role in the distribution of films, by asking, based on what both filmmakers and researchers have to say, by what means those involved in cinema will understand films and their public.

III- Réception

To list the many places of the film critic and evaluate the recent changes and their theoretical stakes. We will proceed there to a case study about the critical reception of some recent films.

The sociological view of the public constitutes one of the horizons of this symposium. It is a question of a finding a light in the road that makes it possible to gain a better understanding of the public viewing Maghreb and African films and to explore the changing experiences of spectators brought on by technological change.

Initiated by the Carthage Film Festival and the research group Maghreb et Cinémas, with the support of the International Organization of Francophonie, and the association of all concerned partners: professionals, researchers, critics and decision-makers, this symposium will take the form of a diptych, with scientific communication followed by round tables.