Opening of the 36th Edition of the Carthage Film Festival

On Saturday, 13 December 2025, the opening ceremony of the 36th edition of the Carthage Film Festival took place at the Chedli Klibi City of Culture. The event began with the reception of guests on the specially arranged red carpet in the central hall, welcoming the participants of this major Arab and African cinematic gathering, including filmmakers, directors, actors, artists, and other distinguished guests.

In the presence of representatives of national and international print, audiovisual, and digital media, as well as photographers, the official ceremony was broadcast live simultaneously on the national television channel Watania 1 and the various radio stations of the Tunisian radio establishment. 

The ceremony opened at the Opera Theater with a musical interlude performed by Omar El-Ouaer on piano and Mariem Abidi on vocals, accompanied by images from the film Nahla and music by Ziad Rahbani.

The master of ceremony, Amine Ben Hamza, announced the focus countries of this edition, Armenia, the Philippines, and Spain, followed by a tribute to the renowned Tunisian-Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, presented through a video highlighting her career and her deep affection for her country of birth, Tunisia.

Subsequently, tributes were paid to the celebrated Algerian filmmaker Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina, to the great figure of African cinema, the late Malian director Souleymane Cissé, to the Senegalese Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, to the Lebanese Walid Chmaït, and to the late Tunisian artist Fadhel Jaziri.

Afterwards, the distinguished producer Abdelaziz Ben Mlouka was invited on stage, following the screening of a video dedicated to his career, to receive an Honorary Tanit in recognition of his rich contribution to national and international cinema. The award was presented to him by filmmaker Mohamed Dammak.

Before the large audience present and the esteemed guests of the festival, a promotional video was screened highlighting Tunisia’s assets, with the aim of encouraging producers and directors to shoot their projects in the country, given its natural richness and the diversity of its locations suitable for cinematic activities.

The members of the juries of the various competitions, Carthage Ciné-Promesse, Feature Documentary, Feature Narrative, and First Work, were then presented on screen, followed by the official festival spot.

Omar El-Ouaer and Mariem Abidi returned to the stage for another musical interlude, once again set to music by Ziad Rahbani. The stage was then given to Mr. Mohamed Tarek Ben Chaabane, Director of the Carthage Film Festival and President of the Organizing Committee, who welcomed the guests of the festival and their films to this prestigious cinematic event. He expressed pride in the festival’s status as the oldest Arab and African film festival celebrating cinema and its creators, and as a space for the exchange of ideas, as well as for the interaction between the visual, the auditory, the sensory, the emotional, and the intellectual.

He emphasized that the Carthage Film Festival enjoys a unique and exceptional character that allows it to constantly renew itself thanks to its audience, eager for meaningful films, and thanks to critics, professionals, technicians, and academics who honor Tunisia through their contributions. Mr. Mohamed Tarek Ben Chaabane added that the love of cinema and the sharing of creative experiences, reflections of our reality, will always guide the festival’s path, recalling the words of the sensitive artist Ziad Rahbani, “I love you for nothing,” and echoing those of the great filmmaker Martin Scorsese: “We cannot let the industry kill cinema.” He stressed that the Carthage Film Festival celebrates, defends, and protects auteur cinema with all its energy. With these words, he officially declared the 36th edition of the Carthage Film Festival open.

“Palestine 36” by Annemarie Jacir, the Opening Film

Before the screening of the Palestinian opening film, Amine Ben Hamza invited the members of the film’s crew present in the theatre to join the director on stage. Annemarie Jacir expressed her heartfelt thanks to Tunisia and its people, and her joy at seeing her film premiere at the Carthage Film Festival.

Palestine 36 is a powerful film that depicts the early stages of the partition of Palestine, the abuses and injustices committed by the British occupation and its army in a village near the holy city of Jerusalem, as well as the beginnings of Palestinian resistance and popular uprising.