Cirta

Documentary | Tunisia

Synopsis

CIRTA is a hybrid film project that combines a short fiction film and a full-length documentary whose conception and making echo and complement each other. Both segments share the same setting: the city of Kef. Although there are no more cinemas in this region today, for many years a magical place has illuminated the lives of the inhabitants of Le Kef: the CIRTA cinema.

CIRTA has been closed for many years and transformed into a café, yet its name remains shrouded in nostalgia, associated with many anecdotes that have forged the local mythology…

Among them, the astonishing journey of Bahri Rahali and Lamine Nahdi, two children from Kef who became renowned comedians in Tunisia.

Production note

CIRTA, a deeply moving docu-fiction woven by Saif Chida, gives voice to a neglected youth and a lost cinema. Saif Chida, who hails from Kef and was born in the 1990s, has never experienced the active CIRTA cinema hall, yet he captures with warmth and humor, enriched by stories from former locals who became famous actors, the wanderings of the youth from the cinema’s neighborhood towards a cinematic awakening. A journey of resilience, infusing a ray of hope into their reality and the sterile cultural environment, this film pays tribute to cinema and stands as a poignant reflection of the American dream it references from a resilience perspective. Chida, in his personal challenge, pours out about his cinematic idols and his quest to unveil poetry in the most mundane reality. Saif Chida’s vision, his directorial talent, and his desire to tell Tunisian stories with universal human significance convinced me to support him in this project, which also marks his foray into feature-length films.

Director
Saifeddine Chida
Tunisia

Cirta OFL 2023 - new

Producer
Olfa Ben Achour
Tunisia