– The Tunisian gathering will present a full retrospective of Laxe’s films, topped off by a master class with the Franco-Galician director; other highlights include XR works and an art programme
Sirāt by Óliver Laxe
Óliver Laxe, whose works often revolve around the relationship between humans and nature, and whose Sirāt has been circulating around the festivals since winning the Jury Prize at Cannes last year, will get a full retrospective of his works at the eighth Gabès Cinema Fen, which unspools from 26 April-2 May. The choice of Laxe’s works is not an accidental one – as the newly appointed director of the event, Afef Ben Mahmoud, told Cineuropa in an interview – given that the relationship between the coastal town in Tunisia and the environment is one of the key elements underpinning the programming strategy. “We look for works that resonate across disciplines and connect with the environment of Gabès,” she explained.
A strand dedicated to Laxe includes You All Are Captains, Mimosas, Fire Will Come and, last but not least, Sirāt, which will be shown on the closing night of the gathering, in the open-air cinema, against a backdrop that resembles the movie’s Moroccan locations. There will also be a master class with the director.
Another prominent guest is a Tunisian native, director Kaouther Ben Hania, who will also give a master class accompanied by a screening of her Venice-awarded and Oscar-nominated The Voice of Hind Rajab.
The Gabès Cinema Fen will also present some of the highlights of the SWANA region’s cinema, including the Oscar-nominated The President’s Cake by Hasan Hadi and All That’s Left of You by Cherien Dabis; Yunan by Ameer Fakher Eldin, which was presented in the main competition of the 2024 Berlinale; and the found-footage documentary With Hasan in Gaza by Kamal Aljafari, which celebrated its world premiere at Locarno last year. This batch of films are connected by the themes of loss and identity.
The line-up also includes Palestine: Revised Narrative by Rana Eid and Cynthia Zaven, a 30-minute found-footage film assembled from 77 silent clips shot between 1914 and 1918 by British forces in Palestine. The work was commissioned by the 15th Arab Film Festival in 2024. In Gabès, it will be supplemented by a discussion panel with the filmmakers, who have also composed music and prepared a special form of sound design that will accompany the archive images.
Additionally, works by European filmmakers will be screened, including Memory by Vladlena Sandu, which won (ex-aequo) the People’s Choice Award in the Giornate degli Autori strand of Venice last year, and the documentary Afternoons of Solitude by Albert Serra, the Golden Shell winner at San Sebastián in 2024. Another important topic for the festival is environmentalism, which steals the limelight in the “Cinema of the Earth” strand.
However, the main programming concept of the eighth Gabès Cinema Fen (the word fen meaning “art” in Arabic) is to blend films, XR works, video art and installations, including those prepared by European artists based in France, Germany and the UK. The programme will be complemented by a special exhibition called “Expo Costume”, dedicated to costume design in Tunisian cinema.
