I too was there, among the huge crowd of Tunisians and foreign festivalgoers, massed together in front of the doors of the Le Colisée cinema in the heart of Tunis. The scene was almost surreal: the impatience was palpable, the pressure on the entrance doors was mounting. The police, overwhelmed, were becoming agitated. Then the batons came out in an attempt to contain the momentum of the people. It was unlike anything ever seen before for a Tunisian picture. That evening, we had not just come to see a film, but an event. Riḥ Es-Sed, Nouri Bouzid’s début feature, was already making waves at international festivals, notably in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. Following these screenings abroad, a major smear campaign was launched against the film by several Tunisian and Arab media outlets, with rumours swirling in Tunis that the censors would never allow its theatrical release, and that the Carthage Film Festival would be our only chance to see it. Produced by Ahmed Bahaddine Attia, a friend and trusted ally of the director, Riḥ Es-Sed was released in a tense climate, surrounded by virulent criticism. The film was accused of breaking taboos and tackling subjects long buried in silence: homosexuality, the rape of children by a figure of authority (a boss and master) and the presence of a marginalised character, a Tunisian Jew, who becomes the confidant of the two tormented young men, Farfat and Hachemi. A hypocritical society did not want to see its reflection in this brutal and necessary mirror. And yet, despite the controversy, the film found its audience. I still recall the intense debate that followed the screening at the Maison de la Culture. The theatre was packed, and the audience was overcome with emotion and respect for Nouri Bouzid’s courage. That day, Tunisian cinema confronted itself: its silences, its flaws. At the conclusion of the 1986 Carthage Film Festival, when the Tanit d’or was presented to Nouri Bouzid, the entire crowd rose to its feet to applaud him. That moment… I will never forget it. It was more than an award; it was a victory against censorship and against fear. Riḥ Es-Sed became a phenomenon, reconciling, perhaps for the first time, the general Tunisian public with its own cinema.

Mohamed Challouf