Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces

Film

by Férid Boughedir

Details

Tunisia / 1990 / 98mins / Comedy, Drama / Arabic

In this coming-of-age comedy/drama set in Tunisia, twelve-year-old Noura is an impressionable boy who must learn to reconcile two conflicting worlds, the loving world of women and the vastly different harsher world of men, while also dealing with his own budding sexuality.

Trailer

About the Director

Férid Boughedir

Director, critic and film historian Férid Boughedir was born in 1944 in Hammam Lif, Tunisia. A long time critic, one of Africa and the Arab World’s best known, and author of numerous books, Férid Boughedir began by making documentaries about the new cinema coming out of these regions: Caméra d’Afrique and Caméra arabe, both of which were presented in the Official Selection at Cannes. His first fictional work, Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces, was shown at Cannes in 1990 to acclaim from critics and audiences alike and remains to this day the biggest success in Tunisian film. A Summer in La Goulette, in competition in Berlin (1996), also won many prizes. A passionate lover of film, he became Delegate, then Director, of the oldest Pan-African festival, the Carthage Film Festival. He finished Villa Jasmin in 2008, co-produced by France 3 and Arte. His 2016 comedy, Zizou or The Sweet Smell of Spring, won Best Arabic Film at the 2016 Cairo International Film Festival. Learn More