Dora Bouchoucha

Samaan, a young Christian man, works as a security guard in a residential building in downtown Cairo. Quiet and introspective, he spends his nights writing stories and chasing his dream of publishing his first novel. Beneath his calm surface, Samaan carries deep wounds—the lasting effects of chronic PTSD, rooted in the traumatic loss of his father, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Libya during Samaan’s childhood. One day, amid the noise and routine of the city, Samaan crosses paths with Fatima, a young Muslim woman. What begins as a simple encounter soon blossoms into an extraordinary friendship—one that slowly begins to break down the walls Samaan has built around his trauma.

Aisha, a 26-year-old Sudanese woman, lives in Ain-Shams, a neighborhood in Cairo with a large African migrant community. The authorities’ indifference to the violent tensions between Egyptians and various African nationalities, has allowed different gangs to seize control of the neighborhood. The situation quickly turns sour after one of them offers Aisha security in exchange for a favor.

In the turbulent aftermath of the Tunisian revolution, young Samia flees her homeland. She braves hostile seas in the crossing to France, but once there she finds that her struggles have only just begun. With no friends, no family, and — most crucially — no immigration papers, Samia has to figure out how to make a life and a living in a foreign land. She meets a young man, Imed, and soon finds work in the employ of the elegant Leila. But her presence in Leila's middle-class household triggers a shift in its dynamics, and soon Samia is enmeshed in a web of sexual tension.

After the death of her husband, Lilia's life revolves solely around her teenage daughter, Salma. Whilst looking for Salma late one night, Lilia stumbles upon a belly dance cabaret and though initially reserved and taken aback by the culture of the place, Lilia gets consistently drawn back to it. She befriends one of the belly dancers and is encouraged into dancing for the audience. Lilia also starts a romance with one of the cabaret's musicians, who unbeknown to both of them, is also romancing Salma.

In 1997, six African women pledged that in the first year of the new millennium they would tell their stories, stories by African women. They called their series "Mama Africa" and drew their tales from the depths of their hearts. The result is a groundbreaking initiative bringing together the incredibly fresh talents of six female directors from the vast and diverse continent of Africa.

A teenager unwittingly reveals a terrible family secret to her new neighbors.

An 18 year old on the island Djerba, Aicha, is married to Said, who works in Tunis for much of the year. Aicha breaks with tradition and decides to join Said in Tunis, weaving rugs to make money. Said asks that she give him a son, so Aicha lives under the rule of her mother-in-law.

Young Tunisian Hedi lives an ordered life in which he believes there can be no more surprises. His future will play out as other people have planned, until he meets a young woman named Rim at a hotel in Mahdia Hediand. An ostensibly personal story broadens into a panorama of a society in upheaval, an allegory about breaking away from traditions. And a film about the happiness and pain of freedom.

Extremism slices through a Tunisian family with the realization that their teenage son has become an ISIS fighter.

A series of six dramatic shorts, each from a different African country and all on the broad theme of "love in Africa."

Born to an Algerian father and a Sicilian mother in Tunisia, I have always been wealthy of three cultures. This motherland is where were born my Algerian ancestors when it was called Ifriqya but also my Sicilian grand-parents whose parents were part of the important migration flux of the beginning of the last century. A reservoir of workforce by the thousands reached the shores of this "promised land". A hundred years later, I embark on a quest to rediscover my Sicilian family, exiled for the past sixty years, scattered between Italy and France.

Seekers of Oblivion explores the exciting life and adventures of Isabelle Eberhardt. Born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1877, Isabelle left Europe for North Africa at a young age. While there, she consorted with tramps, prostitutes, soldiers, murderers and thieves, at times masquerading as a man in orde.

This film explores the impact of the modern world on the traditional male society of the Maghreb. It is a film about men who prefer to live life as an abstract game and the free-spirited woman who changes everything. Said and Youssef have fulfilled a life-long dream by opening a "chess bar" in the middle of the desert. They sit around drinking palm wine, playing board games and composing love poetry to imaginary women. All this changes with the arrival of Sarah, a sexually liberated, uninhibited metisse who easily lures Youssef into an affair. Soon he is dreaming not about chess but about opening a coffee bar in Genoa. The friendship is destroyed, the bar sold. Youssef, dressed in Western clothes, waits to leave with Sarah; will she show up? Said boards a train and sits down next to a Westernized woman bearing a resemblance to Sarah

In Tunis, Fethi, a pretty face like Brando, and his friend Bannour, naive and shy, are employed in the pastry shop of the Italian Madame Rita. Their only concern is picking up Souad and her cousin Latifa in their convertible to take them for a ride "on the Wave side".

After the accidental death of her taxi-driver husband, Salma decides to become master of her own life by taking over his taxi. She comes up against the Kafkaesque procedures of Tunisian bureaucracy and the offhandedness of the insurance industry, but refuses to let go and is not intimidated by anything. With quiet determination, she also faces the conservatism of her in-laws who, under the pretext of morality, continue to dictate the way she should behave. In order to create a better future for her daughter but also for herself, Salma is locked in a daily struggle with the world around her.

In 2008, residents of Redeyef, a Tunisian city heavily reliant on phosphate production, rose against state corruption and the dire, unhealthy, and perilous conditions of their existence. This revolt marked the first significant protest movement against Ben Ali’s oppressive regime and its police state despite facing brutality and tyranny in response. While not a complete success, it ignited a spark of resistance among the Tunisian people, awakening them to the deteriorating levels of freedom. This uprising paved the way for the 2011 revolution and the Arab Spring.

After living full lives in their home countries in Europe, Sarannah, Neeljte and Monica travel to Egypt in hopes of exploring a new chapter of their lives after retirement.

In a land shelled, starved, and denied all essentials, Gazan women fight for health, dignity, and the barest human needs.