ARTAFRICAYou spent two years researching another local Tunisian festival that started in 1964. Can
you tell us about that festival and some of the similarities and differences it shares with
an international festival like Carthage? How varied are these audiences?Far from the glitter of Carthage, the oldest film festival in Tunisia, the Festival International du
Film Amateur de Kelibia (FIFAK), started in 1964. It is organised by the Tunisian Federation of
Amateur Film makers (FTCA) in a small fishing town called Kelibia. FIFAK runs master classes
and debates, screening films exclusively at night in an open-air amphitheatre with twelve hundred
people crammed onto cold, concrete bleachers. You’ve got to be committed to sit through
really long screenings at night. FIFAK shows short films produced by amateur filmmakers from
Tunisia, Europe, South-America, etcetera. This is an important event in Tunisian film culture
because the FTCA has always thought of itself as a place of resistance against authoritarianism
and dictatorship. The transition to democracy in Tunisia has raised great hopes but has also been
fraught with deep anxieties due to the fear of Islamism and lack of economic opportunities for
young people. FIFAK is a place where you still find a lot of defiance, a forum in which people
can discuss what could be a new Tunisia, what could be Tunisian culture post 2011.
What type of visibility does a festival like Carthage provide for filmmakers?The problem with cinema in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco is that exhibition is almost non-
existent. In Morocco you have fifty-seven screens. Algeria has a few cinemas, cinematheques, and
video halls and there are only a dozen cinemas in Tunisia, so local films cannot find audiences
through cinemas. As there are no domestic or regional markets, these films have an economic
and symbolic need for international visibility through festivals and commercial distribution in
Europe. As strange as that may seem, an international reputation can help the films in their
domestic market.FEATURE / CARTHAGE FILM FESTIVALCARTHAGE FILM FESTIVAL / IN CONVERSATION WITH PATRICIA CAILLE 7/20
LEFT TO RIGHT: Patricia Caille. Photograph: Sven Christian; 26th Edition of the Carthage Film Festival,
Tunisia. 2015. Photograph: Sven Christian.