Under the Fig Trees (2023)
Director: Erige Sehiri Run Time: 92 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2022
Starring: Ameni Fdhili, Feten Fdhili, Fide Fdhili, Leila Ohebi, Samar Sifi
Country: Tunisia, France, Switzerland, Germany, Qatar
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
About the film:
Selected for the 2022 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and as the official Tunisian entry for Best International Feature at the 95th Academy Awards in 2023.
Set over the course of a single day, and with a cast made up of an intergenerational ensemble of non-professional actors, Under the Fig Trees (2023) is a story that ultimately reveals the ways in which sisterhood itself becomes an act of resistance.
“an elegant, understated tapestry of complex interactions… a pleasurable and immersive experience”
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter
On a hot summer day, a crew of workers – men and women, young and old – arrive at dawn at a picturesque fig orchard in northwest Tunisia. We eavesdrop, through the sun-dappled leaves of the fig trees, on the young women stealing away precious moments from the foreman’s watchful gaze. Meanwhile, the older women, tasked with the careful job of packing the tender fruit, watch and reminisce together as well. They joke, argue, debate, gossip, flirt, all the while painting an unhurried but riveting portrait of everyday life in the rural society, where class, gender, and circumstance often don’t allow for such personal freedoms.
About the filmmaker:
Erige Sehiri is a French-Tunisian director and producer. With her own production company, Henia, she develops Tunisian author-driven documentaries distinguished at Visions du Réel, IDFA, Cinémed. In 2018, her breakout feature documentary, Railway Men (2018), remained in Tunisian theaters for six weeks. In 2021, she wrote, directed and produced her first fiction feature, Under the Fig Trees (2023), which premiered in the 2022 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, won several post-production awards at the Venice Film Festival (Final Cut in Venice), and was selected as the official Tunisian entry for Best International Feature at the 95th Academy Awards.
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