Tunisia – Tunisian beaches host opening of Manarat Mediterranean Film Festival

Language: Arabic

Duration: 00:05:09

Voice: Natural

Source: A24 Tunis

Restriction: A24 subscribers

Date: 31/08/2022

Storyline:

Tunis opened yesterday, Tuesday, Manarat Mediterranean Film Festival after a two-year absence due to the pandemic, featuring about 80 filmmakers and cinephiles from Arab and foreign countries in the Mediterranean region. The Manarat Festival is distinguished by its outdoor performances on the seashore, aiming to attract vacationers. Artistic director of the Festival, Henda Hawala, told A24, that this session does not include competitions because it represents the return and founding session for the upcoming ones. The festival program this year includes screenings of 30 fiction, documentary, and short films, from ten countries, including Tunisia, Lebanon, France, and Spain.

Shot list:

• Soundbite (Hayat Kattat Al Garmazi – Minister of Culture):

“I am pleased to attend and supervise the opening of the third edition of the Manarat Mediterranean Film Festival. This event that brought us together today, after a break of two consecutive years due to the Covid pandemic, revived the artistic work, especially cinematic art.”

• Soundbite (Khaled Al-Azeq – in charge of running the National Center for Cinema and Image):

“The festival is back after two years due to Covid. Let us call it the return of insistence on continuing, meaning that the festival continues and its presence remains in the minds to encourage people to go to open-air cinemas and to attract projects so that Tunisian filmmakers can participate in them. We also want to launch and implement Tunisian projects because we value the film industry.”

• Soundbite (Handa Hawala – Artistic Director of the Manarat Festival):

“It is the Mediterranean Festival, so the films are from the Mediterranean basin. We have tried to involve as many countries as possible, but of course, it is not possible to include all of them. We tried to choose various films from most countries. This edition does not include competitions, because it returned after two years of absence due to Covid amid the absence of a clear vision. We made the decision late so as not to postpone the festival for another year. The governing body decided to select the films for screening, not competition. This course is a preparation and presentation of the technical vision for the 2023 session.”