Sabah Bouzouita

Young Tunisian Hedi lives an ordered life in which he believes there can be no more surprises. His future will play out as other people have planned, until he meets a young woman named Rim at a hotel in Mahdia Hediand. An ostensibly personal story broadens into a panorama of a society in upheaval, an allegory about breaking away from traditions. And a film about the happiness and pain of freedom.

Set in May 2004. Tunisia is full of excitement: it is the Arab summit. In this frantic and burlesque atmosphere, an electrician, a choreographer, a sick man, and a professional mourner cross paths without ever really meeting, striving to deal with their personal problems.

The death of a prince brings a young woman back to the palace where she was born into servitude. The lingering legacy is brought into light from behind frosted windows and velvet curtains.

A Tunisian couple, Dali and Mariem, welcomes their first child, only to discover the baby is intersex, with biological sex characteristics that do not fit typical male or female definitions. Confronted with societal pressure, family expectations, and their own uncertainties, they struggle to navigate the stigma and challenges imposed by rigid gender norms. As they grapple with decisions about identity, acceptance, and the future, the family’s bonds are tested, forcing them to confront deeply ingrained beliefs about gender, society, and parenthood.

An 18 year old on the island Djerba, Aicha, is married to Said, who works in Tunis for much of the year. Aicha breaks with tradition and decides to join Said in Tunis, weaving rugs to make money. Said asks that she give him a son, so Aicha lives under the rule of her mother-in-law.

Youssef Soltane, a 45-year-old Tunisian intellectual, is the product of a generation that lived the era of euphoria and great ideologies in the sixties, and their subsequent failure. He was incarcerated and tortured for his political opinions. Furthermore, his relationship with Zineb, a young, beautiful bourgeois, only brings him more trouble. During one long winter night, Youssef wanders in search of an emotional haven, prey to all the questions that flood his memory.

Two young Tunisian women strive to achieve the same level of emancipation enjoyed by their male counterparts—even as their country fights for freedom.