Tunisian Cinema
Dear Son

Weldi


NY Premiere

Saturday, December 7, 2019
7pm
FIAF Florence Gould Hall



Post-screening Q&A with director Mohamed Ben Attia.

Dir. Mohamed Ben Attia, 2018, 104 min, DCP
Co-produced by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
With Zakaria Ben Ayyed, Mohamed Dhrif, Mouna Mejri, Imen Cherif
In Arabic with English subtitles

Riadh is about to retire from his work as a forklift operator at the port of Tunis. The life he shares with his wife Nazli revolves around their only son Sami, who is preparing for his Baccalaureate exams. The boy’s repeated migraine attacks are a cause of much worry to his parents. But when he finally seems to be getting better, Sami suddenly disappears.

Selected to represent Tunisia at the 2020 Academy Awards.

Ben Attia has confirmed himself as an unassuming auteur of ordinary life in Tunisia, in which global, block-capital concerns are writ in intimate, personal cursive.Variety (read review)

  • About Mohamed Ben Attia
    • Mohamed Ben Attia was born in Tunis in 1976. He studied audiovisual communication at Valenciennes after graduating at the Institut de Hautes Études Commerciales (IHEC) in Tunis in 1998. He has directed five short films among which Selma was selected in competition at Clermont Ferrand in 2014. His first feature Hedi won two awards at the 2016 Berlinale, Best First Film and Silver Bear for Best Actor. His latest film, Weldi, screened at the 2019 Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.