Cinema
Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces
حلفاوين
Férid Boughedir · 1990
Synopsis
In Halfaouine, a working-class district of Tunis, Noura will soon be twelve and still accompanies his mother to the women's hammam, where he begins to look at the bodies around him with different eyes. In the street, two older boys tolerate him because he tells them what he has seen; he also spends time with Salih, a cobbler and free-spirited poet, and watches the women from the terraces. When he is driven out of the hammam, his attention turns to other figures in the house, among them his mother's cousin.
Context
Boughedir's first fiction feature, for which he wrote the screenplay, with dialogue by Taoufik Jebali, the film was co-produced by Cinétéléfilms, France Média and Arte; the cinematography is by Georges Barsky, the editing by Moufida Tlatli and the music by Anouar Brahem. Selim Boughedir plays Noura and Mohamed Driss Salih, with Rabia Ben Abdallah, Hélène Catzaras and Mustapha Adouani. Presented in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 1990, it was released in France on 26 September of the same year and runs for one hour thirty-eight minutes. It is regarded as the most-watched Tunisian film, in Tunisia as well as abroad.
Who it is for
A gentle comedy in Tunisian Arabic with subtitles, in which everything is seen through the eyes of a child looking at the women of his neighbourhood.
Prizes and reception
Tanit d'Or, prize for performance, prize for direction and UNESCO prize at the JCC in 1990; Silver Hugo in Chicago.
Sources for this page 4
The pages consulted to check this page.