CAFICHANTA

Hichem Ben Ammar
50 Min. | BetaSP, OmeU

This film por­trays the atmos­phere and life in the last remain­ing “Café Chan­tant” in the old part of Tunis. In the past, these cafés were once almost myth­i­cal places of socia­ble enter­tain­ment, where people sang and danced every evening. Today, this tra­di­tion lives on only during the fast­ing month of Ramadan. The film­mak­er tells us the leg­endary story of “Cafichan­ta” in sen­si­tive por­traits of singers and dancers. His­tor­i­cal pho­tographs make every­day life in the old parts of Tunis lively again. This doc­u­men­tary has been shown in sev­er­al inter­na­tion­al film fes­ti­vals in the year 2000, includ­ing those in Milan, Mon­tre­al, 51 and Carthage. It has also been shown at “Cinéma Arabe” in Paris and “Fes­ti­val du Film Fran­coph­o­ne” in Namur.