Hedi - Mohamed Ben Attia

Hedi is a simple young man. He is not very talkative, not very reactive and does not expect much from the life that is traced for him. Indifferent to everything around him, he just takes life as it comes. He allows his authoritarian and overwhelming mother to organise his marriage to Khedija. He allows his boss to send him on a prospection trip to Mahdia during the week of his wedding celebrations. And he allows Ahmed, his brother who has come back from France especially to take part in the ceremony, dictate how he should behave. In other words, he takes it all as it comes. He understands what is happening to him, but he just waits for things to go by.

In Mahdia, he meets Rim who works as an activity leader in a hotel, a seaside resort that is losing its tourists. At first, intrigued by her insouciance and frivolity, Hedi ends by getting involved in a passionate love relationship. In the meantime, while the wedding preparations go on, Hedi is finally forced to make a choice.

Mohamed Ben Attia was born in Tunis in 1976. He studied Audiovisual Communication at the University of Valenciennes in France after graduating from the Institut de Hautes Études Commerciales (IHEC) in Tunis in 1998. He has directed five short films. ‘Hedi’, his feature-film debut, had its world premiere at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Best First Film Award and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. The film has been released in more than 20 countries, has taken part in numerous festivals around the world, and has won many awards.

This screening is organised in partnership with AFAC - The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture.