NOCTURNE: BERNARD MULLIEZ - LE BARBIER DE TUNIS

Special Nocturne screening starts at 18:30!

Since 1995 Bernard Mulliez (1970) has been making films, often with a focus on admiration and curiosity for social relations. Conceived as a traveller’s diary, the video was shot in March 2012, a year after the fall of Ben Ali. The Tunisians were exploring the exercise of democracy and freedom of expression so long confiscated by the past regimes. Benoît Eugène and Bernard Mulliez bring together a series of multi-facetted portraits :

- A collector of discarded plastic bottles, captivating philosopher of subsistance economy.

- An official newsagency journalist worried and disorientated after the fall of the regime.

- An ex Maoist history professor who doesn’t understand the rebellion of her students./p>

- A Muezzin Sheik bearer of a Tunisian Islam.

- A first aid teacher.

As the interviews unfold, the liberal dogma becomes apparent, prescribing competition by maintaining low wages for the workers and tax exemption for foreign investors. All the way through this highly hierarchical and urban landscape, our vision of the « Arab Revolution » becomes more complex. The video checks the simplistic antagonism of a newsworthy political conflict of identity that opposes the Enlightenment of modernity and Islamic obscurantism.

Le Barbier de Tunis. 2015, video, 114', colour, French spoken, English subtitles.