Hedi: A Wind of Freedom

88 mins | Tunisia | 2016 

Arabic with English subtitles

“Those unacquainted with Tunisian current events will appreciate an intimate relationship film with characters they can cotton to – while others will spot not just the nation’s economic plight, but also pre- and post-Revolution parallels in terms of people numbly doing as they’ve always been told vs. those breaking free from expectation.” (Variety review, Berlin)

Synopsis:

A 26-year old fruit vendor in Tunisia set himself on fire in front of the municipal office as a protest against rampant government corruption which desperate act ignited the country’s 2011 ‘Jasmine Revolution’ and ousted the long-time president – in turn, sparking off the ‘Arab Spring’ with uprisings erupting right across the Middle East. Hedi: A Wind of Freedom, Tunisian Director Mohammed Ben Attia’s debut feature, is set shortly after the revolution. 

The film won not only the Best First Feature Award at the Berlin Festival, it was in the running for the Golden Bear itself, besides carrying away numerous top prizes from film festivals world over.* Player Majd Mastoura took the Festival’s Silver Bear for Best Actor. Hedi was co-produced by no less than the Dardenne Brothers of Belgium who number among the world’s finest filmmakers.

Attia’s protagonist Hedi is a shy young man who is passionate about drawing and so works with no enthusiasm as a car salesperson. While his domineering mother supervises preparations for his arranged marriage, just a week before the event, Hedi’s boss sends him to the coastal city of Mahdia to look for new clients. There he meets Rim, the hotel’s free-spirited entertainer who expects the same spontaneity from him. But even as he is falling in love with Rim, he must deal with flirtatious text messages from his fiancé.

Watch trailer here.

In collaboration with Alliance Française de Bangalore:

Present in the city since 1970, the Alliance française de Bangalore, a not for profit organisation that is a part of a world wide network of more than 850 institutions, has maintained since then its core values – promotion and respect of the cultural and linguistic diversity, solidarity and conviviality- in order to be a place of encounter and exchange where all the Bangaloreans can find a space of self-development and enrichment.