- Title: Tunisian film 'Hedi' brings Berlin Arabic-language sex scenes
- Date: 12th February 2016
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (FEBRUARY 12, 2016) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF 'INHEBBEK HEDI' ACTRESS, RYM BEN MESSAOUD, ARRIVING AND POSING ON RED CARPET PHOTOGRAPHER / MESSAOUD GREETING HER FILM PARTNER, 'INHEBBEK HEDI' ACTOR, MAJD MASTOURA MESSAOUD AND MASTOURA POSING WITH 'INHEBBEK HEDI' DIRECTOR MOHAMED BEN ATTIA ON RED CARPET CAST ON CAMERA DISPLAY VARIOUS OF 'INHEBBEK HEDI' TEAM POSING WITH BERLINALE FESTIVAL DIRECTOR DIETER KOSSLICK ON RED CARPET
- Embargoed: 27th February 2016 17:49
- Keywords: Berlin film festival Inhebbek Hedi competition Mohamed Ben Attia Tunisia
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Film
- Reuters ID: LVA001446PXL9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: "Inhebbek Hedi", the story of a love triangle that includes sex scenes unusual for an Arabic-language film, became the first Tunisian film shown in international competition in two decades when it screened on Friday at the Berlin film festival.
Director Mohamed Ben Attia said he was proud his work had been chosen for the honour of competing for the festival's top prize, the Golden Bear.
"Yes, it would make me happy if we saw more films - Danish, Arabic too… I don't care, frankly, even if that doesn't make you happy. I'm an Arab and I'm proud of it, but above all I am a film-lover and viewer and I love seeing films in general," Attia said at a post-screening news conference.
Set just after the Tunisians ousted the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, the film centres on the character of Hedi, played by Majd Mastoura, who works in a dead-end job as a new-car salesman.
He is sent to work in new territory at the seaside resort of Mahdia days before his wedding, after an engagement closely managed by his overbearing mother, played by Sabah Bouzouita.
Business is slow, leaving him at loose ends at the resort. He strikes up a relationship that turns into a romance with Rim, a tourist-guide-cum dancer, played by Rym Ben Messaoud.
"I think the character of Rim is an excellent example for Tunisian women, because women in Tunisia are very different from women in other Arab countries. Women in Tunisia are emancipated, they are educated. So, to that extent it is a very realistic film and Hedi and Rim are a perfect example for Tunisian society which is torn between tradition and very modern, civilized society. So, we do have our traditions, of course, but this film is about some sort of revolution. Revolution is a big issue in Tunisia anyway, individually and socially. Young people in Tunisia are still living through a revolution within themselves in the world they live in," the actress said at the news conference.
The sex scenes that ensue would not have caused much problem in decency-code American films of the 1940s and 50s. But they might raise eyebrows in the Arab world.
The film makes only occasional references to the events of 2011 and its aftermath. Attia said that was done deliberately, to better portray how everyday life had changed - and not changed - in years after the uprising. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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