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Abdellatif Kechiche

Abdellatif Kechiche

Directing

Biography

Abdellatif Kechiche is a Franco-Tunisian actor, screenwriter, and director born on December 7, 1960, in Tunis, Tunisia. He moved to France as a child and began his career as an actor before turning to directing. He gained recognition with films praised for their realism, dialogue, and direction of actors, notably L'Esquive and La Graine et le Mulet, for which he won four César Awards each, and La Vie d'Adèle, the film that earned him the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. He recently released Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due, the final installment of a trilogy and possibly his last film, as he suffered a stroke in 2025, which significantly curtailed his work. His films often explore human relationships, questions of identity, working-class communities, and the journey toward integration. His work has received numerous awards, though it has also occasionally sparked controversy regarding his filming methods.

Known For

Mint Tea
5.7

A young Algerian in Paris has not been as successful as he claims in letters home, and when his mother unexpectedly arrives for a visit of several months, he is hard put to hide his circumstances -- and the fact that he has resorted to small-time criminal activity to support himself. His mother disembarks in her traditional attire, a warm-hearted woman who does not have a clue as to how this foreign society functions but also has absolutely no inhibitions about finding out, if the need arises. As the story progresses, the mother catches on to her son's circumstances though the two are still not able to confront the deception and right it. Even with a low budget, this first-time feature-length story by Bahloul Bahloul combines satire, comedy, and pathos to bring home a relationship between mother and son that transcends life's many obstacles.

Mint Tea

1984Movie
The Magic Box
3.7

Over forty and in a bit of a midlife crisis, Tunisian film director Raouf is prone to excessive drinking when not engaged in an argument with his French-born wife Lou (Marianne Basler). One respite to Raouf's dreary life is a recent film assignment -- to shoot an autobiographical film about his childhood. While working on the script, Raouf recalls his childhood home life under the strictures instituted by his devoutly religious father. The polar opposite of Raouf's father was his uncle Mansour, a jolly, life-loving soul who introduced Raouf to cinema through his work as a wandering film projectionist, which angered and shocked his father to no end but proved to be the most pivotal development in the youngster's life. Through cinema, Raouf found his place in this world and came-of-age -- something he may have to revisit in his adult life if he wishes to salvage his marriage.

The Magic Box

2003Movie