Aïcha

Friday 24. 1. 2025.
16:00 – The Damned Yard Theatre

Aya, in her late twenties, still lives with her parents in southern Tunisia and feels trapped in a life without prospects. One day, the minivan in which she commutes daily between her town and the hotel where she works crashes. As the sole survivor of the accident, she realizes it could be her chance to start a new life. She flees to Tunis under a new identity, but everything is soon compromised when she becomes the main witness to a police blunder.

Director: Mehdi M. Barsaoui
Screenplay: Mehdi M. Barsaoui
Director of Photography: Antoine Héberlé
Film Editing: Camille Toubkis
Producers: Habib Attia, Marc Irmer, Flaminio Zadra, Chantal Fischer
Cast: Fatma Sfarr, Nidhal Saadi, Yasmine Dimassi, Hela Ayed, Ala BenHamad, Badis Galaoui
Duration: 123’
Tunisia, France, Italy, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, 2024

About Director

Mehdi M. Barsaoui

Born in 1984 in Tunis, Mehdi graduated in editing from the Higher Institute of Multimedia Arts in Tunis. He then went to Italy to complete his training and graduated as a director from DAMS in Bologna. He has directed three short films, which have received recognition and awards at several international festivals. His first feature film A Son started its international career in the official selection at the 76th edition of the Venice Film Festival, where it received two awards, under which Best Actor for Sami Bouajila. Distributed in twenty countries and winning multiple awards all over the world, A Son is the first Tunisian film to win a French César Award. Aicha is his second feature film.