Challat of Tunis
Spring Grant 2011 - Production Stage
Kaouther Ben Hania / Feature Documentary / Tunisia, Qatar / 90 min / Colour / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Comedy, Social Issues, Women Interest
Synopsis
Tunis, 2003. A man on a mo-ped, razor blade in hand, prowls the streets. He’s on a mission: to slash the most beautiful buttocks of women strolling along the city’s sidewalks. They call him Challat; in the Tunisian dialect, the word means ‘blade’ and is most likely a distortion of Gillette, the famous razor blade brand with the slogan ‘the best a man can get’. Eight years later, Challat has just been freed from jail, and Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania sets out to find him. She wants to know what motivated him to slash women like herself.
Credits
- Director
- Kaouther Ben Hania
- Screenwriter
- Kaouther Ben Hania
- Producer
- Habib Attia, Julie Paratian
About the Director
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania studied cinema in Tunisia and in Paris at La Fémis and the Sorbonne. She has directed several short films, including ‘Wooden Hand’ (2013), which had a lengthy and successful run on the international festival circuit. Her documentary film ‘Imams Go to School’ had its premiere at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam in 2010 and was selected for numerous prestigious film festivals. ‘Challat of Tunis’, her first feature film, opened the ACID section of the Festival de Cannes in 2014. Her most recent film, ‘Zaineb Hates the Snow’, shot over years in Canada and Tunisia, premiered in the Official Selection of the Festival del Film Locarno in 2016, won a Golden Tanit at the Carthage Film Festival, and was named Best Documentary at Cinémed.
Awards and Festival History
Festivals
Dubai International Film Festival 2013 in the Muhr Arab Features Competition (UAE)
Cannes ACID 2014 (France)
29th Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur2014 (France)
Won the Golden Bayard award for First Film at the 29th Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur2014 (France)
Won the Best Feature Film Award at the Socially Relevant Film Award NY 2015 (USA)