The 36th edition of the Carthage Film Days opens Saturday in Tunisia. This year, the festival pays tribute to several late cinema icons, including Ziad Rahbani and Claudia Cardinale.

As the festival begins, the streets of Tunis once again come alive with the vibrant atmosphere synonymous with this cultural event.

Running until December 20, this year’s edition carries the theme "Resistance and Memory." Widely regarded as Tunisia’s premier cinematic event, the festival brings together filmmakers from across Tunisia and Africa. According to the organizers, the chosen theme reflects the festival’s enduring commitment to its traditional format and its role as a free space for purposeful cinema.

Through a diverse program that preserves its classic sections, the festival reaffirms its status as the oldest cinematic event in Africa and the Arab world, serving as a cultural bridge between art, history, and advocacy for justice. Since its founding in 1966, Carthage Film Days has been a platform for Arab and African filmmakers, providing a space for creators to reflect the aspirations and struggles of their communities.

A rich and diverse program
This year’s program emphasizes critical themes such as identity, memory, and the Palestinian cause, which continues to occupy a central place in screenings, presentations, and discussion workshops. 

Festival director Tarek Ben Chaabane noted that the 36th edition will screen 165 films on 14 screens, including 96 feature films and 69 short films from 23 countries. Of these, 54 films compete in the official competitions: 14 feature-length narrative films, 12 feature documentaries, 16 shorts, and 12 films in Carthage for Promising Cinema.

Tunisian cinema is strongly represented with 46 films, 23 feature-length and 23 shorts. Women filmmakers are also in the spotlight, with official competition entries from Kaouther Ben Hania (The Voice of Hind Rajab), Erige Sehiri (Sky Without Land), and Amel Guellaty (Where the Wind Comes From).

The festival opens with the Palestinian film "Palestine 36" by Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, exploring themes of memory, identity, and resistance. Ben Chaabane explained that selecting this film reflects a programming vision that "draws from profound human experiences and raises fundamental questions about existence in a world where images and realities often contradict each other."

Ziad Rahbani (Archive)

Tributes and special guests
As tradition, Carthage Film Days honors prominent filmmakers, critics, and intellectuals from the Arab world, Africa, and Europe. The festival also pays a special tribute to the late international actress Claudia Cardinale, highlighting her long career and connection to Tunisia.

Other honorees include Algerian director Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Malian director Souleymane Cissé, Beninese filmmaker Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, Tunisian producer Abdelaziz Ben Mlouka, and actor-director Fadhel Jaziri. The festival will also celebrate the late Ziad Rahbani by screening films featuring his acting or musical contributions, such as The Kite (Randa Chahal), Nahla (Farouk Beloufa), Returning to Haifa (Kassem Hawal), and "Ziad Rahbani... After All These Years" (Jad Ghosn).

From cinema halls to the streets
The festival extends beyond cinema halls, bringing screenings to Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis. Each year, this tradition allows the public to watch films for free, transforming the city’s main thoroughfare into an open-air cinema where movie lovers mingle with passersby.