Cinema
The Fool of Kairouan
مجنون القيروان
Jean-André Creuzi · 1939
Synopsis
In Kairouan, Si-Amor, a carpet merchant, lives with his children, Ahmed, Férida and the eldest, Aïcha, whom he cherishes. Their cousin Moncef returns from Paris, his law studies completed; he and Aïcha love each other and wish to marry. But Si-Amor promises his daughter to Salah, son of his friend Si Béchir. Moncef, in despair, runs away; Aïcha, married, wastes away, and Ahmed finds his cousin again, driven mad by love and grief.
Context
Shot in 1937 according to Kapitalis, released in Tunisia on 2 January 1939 according to Letterboxd, the film was produced by Tobis Klangfilm from a screenplay by Paul Hug and Hassen Rachik; the music is by Mohamed Triki, Maurice Benais and Jean Yatove, and the singer Mohamed Jamoussi performs it. Flifla Chamia plays Aïcha, alongside Mohieddine Mrad and Abdelmajid Chabbi. Regarded as the first musical film and the first Arabic-language film shot in Tunisia, its print was lost after 1939; Hichem Ben Ammar found it in France in 1989, and the Archives françaises du film restored it. It runs seventy-two minutes according to Africultures, eighty-three according to Mubi.
Who it is for
A sung melodrama in Arabic, worth seeing for its place in the history of Tunisian cinema before independence.
Prizes and reception
Mubi and Africultures present it as a key work of pre-war North African cinema.
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