Images de Tunisie reclaims and recontextualizes archival footage from 1940s newsreels produced by Les Actualités Françaises, and combines it with new footage filmed at the same vernacular architecture sites in the Berber villages of southern Tunisia.

These 1940s black-and-white documentaries were created to serve French propaganda in and about the colonised countries of North Africa, including Tunisia. Ben Slimane explains: ‘The title of the film comes from the ethnographic documentary filmed by Georges Barrois, Images de Tunisie (1946), which interested me because of its ability to create images and shape narratives. I went back to the sites presented in the archive films to reappropriate the scenes from a personal point of view, using a hand-held camera. "

The film functions as a counter-ethnography.  Navigating between archive documents and personal images, an interaction unfolds. This interaction becomes the keystone of the film, transforming it into a commentary on the evolution of the medium of cinema, illustrating its ability to redefine narratives.


Produced by  Zaha Hadid Foundation.