LONDON: Moufida Tlatli, the ground-breaking Tunisian film director who became the first Arab woman to direct a feature film, has died aged 73.
She is well known for her 1994 breakthrough film “The Silences of the Palace,” a tale of a woman’s return to an abandoned royal palace. Critics praised the film for its exploration of the trauma dealt to generations of Arab women.
It won several international awards, including a London Film Festival prize for “most original and imaginative” film of the year.
Film critic and director Mark Cousins named it one of Africa’s 10 best films. The story was inspired by the difficulties Tlatli’s mother faced throughout her life.
In stepping up as a director, Tlatli had broken a long-time taboo. “Traditionally in the Arab film world, a girl works in continuity or is an editor. I had never thought of making films,” she said.
“The Season of Men,” her next film, was released in 2000 and explores relations between men and women.
Its story involves a group living on the Tunisian island of Djerba, whose men spend most of their time away working, returning for a single month each year.
The Guardian newspaper’s chief film critic Peter Bradshaw hailed “The Season of Men” as a “beautifully lucid, compassionate film, and a powerful and deeply engaging family drama.”
As with “Silences of the Palace”, “The Season of Men” was met with praise on the international film circuit, winning several awards.
Tlatli, who was born in 1947 in the town of Sidi Bou Said, studied film editing in Paris, before returning to Tunisia in 1972.
Her third film “Nadia et Sarra,” released in 2004, featured Palestinian actor-director Hiam Abbass.
In 2011, Tlatli was appointed minister for culture in Tunisia’s transitional government following the country’s revolution.
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