Cinéastes de la troisième génération en Tunisie : la redéfinition des enjeux d’un engagement politique
Cinema in Tunisia is characterised by a film culture structured around two Tunisian federations, that of film clubs founded in 1949 (FTCC), and that of amateur filmmakers (FTCA) founded in 1962, whose commitment is carried by a few members who since then have become influential in civil society. The...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fra |
| Published: |
CNRS Éditions
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | L’Année du Maghreb |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/anneemaghreb/14476 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849705636806262784 |
|---|---|
| author | Patricia Caillé |
| author_facet | Patricia Caillé |
| author_sort | Patricia Caillé |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Cinema in Tunisia is characterised by a film culture structured around two Tunisian federations, that of film clubs founded in 1949 (FTCC), and that of amateur filmmakers (FTCA) founded in 1962, whose commitment is carried by a few members who since then have become influential in civil society. The revolution of 14 January 2011 brought the values of this culture back to the fore: resourcefulness, team spirit, strong political commitment to a democratic society, a capacity to debate and a sense of the common good. Based on a wider-ranging study of all the authors of feature-length documentaries and fiction films made in Tunisia, and a survey of 30 filmmakers, this article focuses more specifically on the third generation. It takes up the ambition of the call for articles launched by the editors of this issue: “bring to light the continuities, filiations and ruptures that link the new generation to the avant-gardes of the 1960s and 1970s, to remind us that cinema did not suddenly appear in the Maghreb as a result of the digital revolution” (Pierre-Bouthier, Tenfiche, 2024). This article begins by sketching a brief landscape of filmmaking in Tunisia, structured around three generations, and the way in which such generations have built their commitment to cinema around different conceptions of self and sets of issues. In particular, we examine the tension between the political commitment disseminated by this local film culture in Tunisia, and the Romanticism related to a more artistic conception of filmmaking that is already present among second-generation filmmakers. Respondents from the first generation educated abroad, who claim the values inherited from the FTCC and the FTCA, recall the study of great filmmakers in film schools in Europe, and imagine themselves becoming the initiators of founding works. The filmmakers of this generation imagined themselves as initiators of films that would lay the foundation of a national cinema, while the second generation, suffering from the erosion of opportunities, has been much more modest in its ambitions. The members of the third generation, the majority of whom came to filmmaking through the 2011 Tunisian Revolution, originate from much more diverse social and cultural backgrounds. In this landscape of filmic creation inherited from a Tunisian film culture specific to the third generation, we draw three ideal types of the conception of film directing and film creation. The first type, the “solitaires né·es de la révolution” (“loners born out of the revolution”), is aligned with a fairly classic conception of the romantic artist who seeks through intimate narratives the means to give an account of a new subjectivity, his or her own. The “experimenters in cinema” are driven by the desire to break with the world of cinema in Tunisia, to engage in a collective experimentation that leads the members to work in cinema beyond what would be a national narrative or national borders. The “explorers of a post-revolutionary Tunisia” are undoubtedly closer to the values of Tunisian film culture. They are calling for a film ethics geared towards the exploration of remote parts of the country and populations that have remained largely invisible on films. Hence the importance of setting out to discover worlds that are not seen, to redefine the terms of the relationship between the filmmakers and the people being filmed, and to engage in a dialogue with audiences around the films. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ce0ca9a0a989491ebf594818b84f968c |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1952-8108 2109-9405 |
| language | fra |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | CNRS Éditions |
| record_format | Article |
| series | L’Année du Maghreb |
| spelling | doaj-art-ce0ca9a0a989491ebf594818b84f968c2025-08-20T03:16:25ZfraCNRS ÉditionsL’Année du Maghreb1952-81082109-94052025-06-013310.4000/145idCinéastes de la troisième génération en Tunisie : la redéfinition des enjeux d’un engagement politiquePatricia CailléCinema in Tunisia is characterised by a film culture structured around two Tunisian federations, that of film clubs founded in 1949 (FTCC), and that of amateur filmmakers (FTCA) founded in 1962, whose commitment is carried by a few members who since then have become influential in civil society. The revolution of 14 January 2011 brought the values of this culture back to the fore: resourcefulness, team spirit, strong political commitment to a democratic society, a capacity to debate and a sense of the common good. Based on a wider-ranging study of all the authors of feature-length documentaries and fiction films made in Tunisia, and a survey of 30 filmmakers, this article focuses more specifically on the third generation. It takes up the ambition of the call for articles launched by the editors of this issue: “bring to light the continuities, filiations and ruptures that link the new generation to the avant-gardes of the 1960s and 1970s, to remind us that cinema did not suddenly appear in the Maghreb as a result of the digital revolution” (Pierre-Bouthier, Tenfiche, 2024). This article begins by sketching a brief landscape of filmmaking in Tunisia, structured around three generations, and the way in which such generations have built their commitment to cinema around different conceptions of self and sets of issues. In particular, we examine the tension between the political commitment disseminated by this local film culture in Tunisia, and the Romanticism related to a more artistic conception of filmmaking that is already present among second-generation filmmakers. Respondents from the first generation educated abroad, who claim the values inherited from the FTCC and the FTCA, recall the study of great filmmakers in film schools in Europe, and imagine themselves becoming the initiators of founding works. The filmmakers of this generation imagined themselves as initiators of films that would lay the foundation of a national cinema, while the second generation, suffering from the erosion of opportunities, has been much more modest in its ambitions. The members of the third generation, the majority of whom came to filmmaking through the 2011 Tunisian Revolution, originate from much more diverse social and cultural backgrounds. In this landscape of filmic creation inherited from a Tunisian film culture specific to the third generation, we draw three ideal types of the conception of film directing and film creation. The first type, the “solitaires né·es de la révolution” (“loners born out of the revolution”), is aligned with a fairly classic conception of the romantic artist who seeks through intimate narratives the means to give an account of a new subjectivity, his or her own. The “experimenters in cinema” are driven by the desire to break with the world of cinema in Tunisia, to engage in a collective experimentation that leads the members to work in cinema beyond what would be a national narrative or national borders. The “explorers of a post-revolutionary Tunisia” are undoubtedly closer to the values of Tunisian film culture. They are calling for a film ethics geared towards the exploration of remote parts of the country and populations that have remained largely invisible on films. Hence the importance of setting out to discover worlds that are not seen, to redefine the terms of the relationship between the filmmakers and the people being filmed, and to engage in a dialogue with audiences around the films.https://journals.openedition.org/anneemaghreb/14476Tunisiacinema in TunisiaTunisian film cultureTunisian revolutionTunisian filmmakersTunisian cinema |
| spellingShingle | Patricia Caillé Cinéastes de la troisième génération en Tunisie : la redéfinition des enjeux d’un engagement politique L’Année du Maghreb Tunisia cinema in Tunisia Tunisian film culture Tunisian revolution Tunisian filmmakers Tunisian cinema |
| title | Cinéastes de la troisième génération en Tunisie : la redéfinition des enjeux d’un engagement politique |
| title_full | Cinéastes de la troisième génération en Tunisie : la redéfinition des enjeux d’un engagement politique |
| title_fullStr | Cinéastes de la troisième génération en Tunisie : la redéfinition des enjeux d’un engagement politique |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cinéastes de la troisième génération en Tunisie : la redéfinition des enjeux d’un engagement politique |
| title_short | Cinéastes de la troisième génération en Tunisie : la redéfinition des enjeux d’un engagement politique |
| title_sort | cineastes de la troisieme generation en tunisie la redefinition des enjeux d un engagement politique |
| topic | Tunisia cinema in Tunisia Tunisian film culture Tunisian revolution Tunisian filmmakers Tunisian cinema |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/anneemaghreb/14476 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT patriciacaille cineastesdelatroisiemegenerationentunisielaredefinitiondesenjeuxdunengagementpolitique |