10 Best Movies from Tunisia to Watch First

10 Essential Films from Tunisia

Ranked native cinema in Tunisia’s own creative voice.

1. 

   1. The Silences of the Palace

   صمت القصور · 1994

   Returning to the aristocratic palace where she was born to servant women, a young singer confronts the buried history of her mother's life as a concubine and the silences that shaped them both. Moufida Tlatli's landmark drama of women's lives.

2. 

   2. Halfaouine Child of the Terraces

   عصفور السطح · 1990

   A curious twelve-year-old boy in 1960s Tunis, newly barred from the women's baths but not yet welcomed into the world of men, navigates the awakening of desire and the mysteries of adulthood. A warm, sensual coming-of-age comedy.

3. 

   3. Man of Ashes

   ريح السد‎ · 1986

   In the days before his arranged wedding, a young Tunisian man is tormented by anxiety and the return of a childhood trauma he shares with his best friend, whose manhood the town gossips call into question. A bold, groundbreaking drama.

4. 

   4. The Man Who Sold His Skin

   الرجل الذي باع ظهره · 2020

   To reach Europe and the woman he loves, a Syrian refugee agrees to let a famous artist tattoo his back and turn him into a living, exhibited artwork — trading his freedom for a visa. A sharp, provocative satire on art, migration, and commodification.

5. 

   5. Four Daughters

   Les Filles d'Olfa · 2023

   When a Tunisian mother's two eldest daughters vanish — radicalized and drawn to ISIS — the filmmaker restages the family's story with actresses standing in for the missing girls, blurring documentary and drama to unearth the truth. A haunting, inventive film.

6. 

   6. As I Open My Eyes

   À peine j'ouvre les yeux · 2015

   In Tunis on the eve of the 2011 revolution, a rebellious eighteen-year-old defies her worried mother to sing in an incendiary rock band, courting the attention of a repressive regime. A vibrant, urgent drama.

7. 

   7. Under the Fig Trees

   تحت الشجرة · 2022

   Over a single day of the summer fig harvest, young Tunisian women and men working among the orchards flirt, quarrel, and reach toward — and away from — deeper connection. A tender, sun-dappled ensemble drama.

8. 

   8. A Simple Story

   Une si simple histoire · 1970

   A documentary filmmaker sets out to profile Tunisians who worked abroad and the French wives some brought home, and finds himself drawn into their struggles to adjust. An early reflexive Tunisian drama.

9. 

   9. Fatma 75

   فاطمة 75 · 1976

   Blending documentary and fiction, this pioneering film traces the history of women's emancipation in Tunisia through the eyes of a young student. A landmark feminist work of Arab cinema.

10. 

    10. Aziza

    1980

    When an old craftsman leaves the ancient medina of Tunis to resettle his family in a soulless new suburb, his niece Aziza must find her own footing and independence in the changing city. A thoughtful Tunisian drama.