The Ministry of Tunisian Affairs announced Thursday October 19 the cancellation of the 34th edition of the Carthage Cinematographic Days (JCC), scheduled from October 28 to November 4, in solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Carthage Film Festival (JCC), reserved for Arab and African directors, is a major annual cultural event in Tunisia. The Tunisian Ministry of Tunisian Affairs announced its cancellation. It was scheduled to take place from October 28 to November 4. A controversial decision.
“International silence”
” In solidarity with our brotherly Palestinian people and taking into account the critical humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip (…) following the brutal Zionist aggression, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs has decided to cancel the organization of the 34th edition of the JCC“, specifies the ministry’s press release. Tunisia, which sheltered Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1982 to 1994 after his departure from Lebanon, has always adopted a position of firm support for the cause. Palestinian.
President Kais Saied denounced Wednesday October 18 ” an international silence” on the ” genocides” perpetrated, according to him, by the Israeli army against the Palestinians. Several demonstrations were organized across the country to denounce a deadly strike Tuesday, October 17 on a hospital in Gaza.
Controversial decision
In the country, some voices are being raised to question the appropriateness of this cancellation, as reported by Jeune Afrique. Tunisian media point out that several Palestinian films were programmed by the festival and that their screening could have been an opportunity to discuss the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Journalist and film critic Chiraz Ben Mrad expressed his disappointment at the decision to cancel the flagship event on the cultural scene in Tunisia. ” We have […] planned an exceptional Palestinian film by Mohamed Bakri to open the JCC, a tribute to Palestinian director Hany Abu Assaad, a retrospective dedicated to Tunisian director Jilani Saadi, two tributes to two pioneers of African cinema Sembene Ousmane and Ababacar Samb Makharam as well as an exceptional meeting with Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf and many other meetings and films that could have created unique opportunities to express solidarity with the Palestinian people“, we can read in his Facebook post.
The ministry’s decision also caused a lot of reaction on the web as reported by the Tunisian media Business News. Internet users, anonymous people and public figures believe that it is important and beneficial to turn to culture in a context of conflict, by making young people aware of Palestine, its history, its culture and its artists.
The founder and director of the electronic newspaper Business News, Nizar Bahloul recalled that Western media were trying to raise awareness among young people through broadcast documentaries, such as that of the Franco-German channel Arte which broadcast a film on the Shoah. The Carthage film festival had already announced, Monday October 16, 2023, the cancellation of the festive side of its 34th edition.
Israel has been shelling the Gaza Strip since October 7 in response to a bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel. The war sparked by this attack has already left thousands dead.