“Chikli Tower”, where the celebration took place (Tunisian Ministry of Culture)
start over Cinema in Tunisia to 1896; The year the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere filmed vivid street scenes in Tunis. As for the actual beginning, it was in 1922; With the screening of the first Tunisian film – a fiction short film entitled “Fiore” – signed by Albert Chamama Chakli (1872 – 1933).
The name Chakli dates back to these days on the occasion of the centenary of the beginning of Tunisian cinema. It is the occasion that the country’s Ministry of Culture recalls with a celebration that took place last Wednesday on the island of Chakli, which is located in the center of the northern lake of Tunis, off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Tunis.
The choice of the island, also called Chikli and Shikla, is a place of celebration because, as we read on the ministry page, it bears the name of the “pioneer of Tunisian cinema”, which some sources mention used to give concerts in the “Shakli Tower” built by the Spaniards when they occupied Tunisia in the 16th century. However, the narrative seems weak; Since the name Shakli has been mentioned in historical sources that predate the time of Albert Shamama Shakli; Including the book “Al-Mu’nis fi Akhbar Ifriqiya wa Tunis” by Ibn Abi Dinar al-Qayrawani († 1690).
The event marks the official launch of a year-long holiday program
Be that as it may, the celebration, which coincided with the organization of the activities of the thirty-third session of the “Carthage Cinema Days” (which took place from the twenty-ninth of last month to the fourth of this month), was largely focused on the official aspect, such as the speech by the Minister of Culture Hayat Kattat Al-Qarmazi who spoke of the “specificity of Tunisian cinema and the concerns it brought and humanitarian, social and political issues”, and the “availability” of the country of “sites,” landmarks and landscapes that were a destination for filmmakers in the world “, and the need to build on this” to create a film industry with complete conditions, so that this art is In addition to its creativity and aesthetic value, it is an engine of development, wealth creation and revitalization of the national economy.
The celebration saw the honor of numerous Tunisian directors; I am Juwaida Tamzali (nephew of Albert Shamama Chakli), actor Habib El Shaari, director Salma Bakkar, actress Mona Nour El Din, journalist and film critic Khamis Khayati, producer Abdelaziz Ben Malouka, director of photography Ahmed Bennis and director Abdellatif Ben Ammar.
As for cultural events, they limited themselves to projecting a video documenting the most important broadcasters of Tunisian cinema, and the most prominent Tunisian films, produced over one hundred years and played in film festivals, as well as a musical show presented by the “Tunisian Symphony Orchestra ”directed by Mohamed Bouslama, and included the performance of musical pieces from some Tunisian films; Such as: “The surface sparrow” (1990) and “Summer La Goulette” (1996) by Farid Boughedir, and the stranger; Such as: “Christophe Columbus”, “James Bond”, “The Matrix”, “Titanic” and “Gladiator”.
The celebration represents the official launch of a program that the Ministry of Culture calls “Year of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of cinema in Tunisia”. Its contents have not yet been revealed.
