Sonia Chamkhi

While Mehdi is torn between his secret gay affair and the perspective of getting married, his sister Hind struggles to face her present and to reveal the secrets of her past kept in the dark.

"The Art of Mezoued" tells the story of the life and work of the leading figures of the Tunisian Mezoued (popular song based on the bagpipes). It portrays its pioneers and its living actors, between consecrated stars, fallen stars and rising celebrities: Salah Farzit, Mostapha Gattel Essid, Hédi Donia, Abdelkarim Benzarti and Achraf. The film relates through interviews, testimonies and live concerts in wedding parties and in various places (cafes, cabarets, party rooms... ), the dense, eventful and controversial history of the Tunisian popular song Mezoued, its rise and its crises, its musical components and its themes, its territories of deprivation and popular plebiscite, its official exclusion (until 1990) and its phenomenal success carried by popular musicians, with the appearance of "bad boys" and singular talent and by cult songs, sometimes deviant, sometimes protesting or simply funny, saucy and festive.

October 2011, nine months after the Tunisian Revolution of January 14, Tunisian women are running for the elections of the Constituent Assembly, some are from political parties, some are complete novices, some are activists of the early hours who joined parties to be part of the lists in the running and others are running as independents. They are in campaign, they criss-cross the Tunisian cities and villages, do meetings, door-to-door, enter the cafes "men", stick themselves their posters and distribute their leaflets. Who are they, what path has brought them to the political arena, what are their motivations and their weapons to lead such an unprecedented battle?

Saâdia, a cleaning woman, and Mokhtar, a night watchman at construction sites, meet. It’s the discovery of love, for both of them, in a city that offered them nothing but downfall. Yet they will come to know grace; however, the fall will be painful.

The story is set in Douz, a town in south-western Tunisia. Once a key route for sub-Saharan trade, it served the vast Eastern Erg and linked the Tunisian Sahara with that of Algeria, Libya, Niger and Egypt. The film tells the story of the M’Razig, the inhabitants of Douz—once nomads, now semi-sedentary—who find meaning in their lives through a thirst for life and a quest for eternity.

Mouna, a young woman in her twenties, works as a ticket inspector and conductor for a private public transport company. For some time now, she seems to see her boyfriend Omar everywhere, even though he has emigrated illegally without telling her. It turns out that she really is seeing him, as he has been deported. She decides to look for him, finds him and settles the score with him in order to regain her ‘freedom’.