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Aïcha

A gripping social-realist drama by Mehdi Barsaoui (Un Fils) about a young woman trying to build a new life in Tunis. Her fresh start is threatened when she unexpectedly becomes the key witness in a police investigation.

Please note that this film is in Arabic, with Dutch subtitles.
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Aya, in her late twenties, feels trapped in her life with her parents in southern Tunisia, seeing no prospects for change. One day, the minivan she commutes in daily between her town and the hotel where she works, crashes, leaving her as the sole survivor. Realising this could be her chance for a fresh start, she flees to Tunis under a new identity, but everything is soon jeopardised when she becomes the main witness to a police blunder.

Aïcha delves into the lives of Tunisian youth, whose dreams are too often denied. The film portrays a quest for freedom and the desire to live life to the fullest – a paradox where true freedom for the protagonist can only be attained through her death. In her pursuit of life, Aya faces numerous obstacles: family authority, submissiveness, misogyny, sexism – and more generally women’s place in society. Above all, she confronts the corruption and oppression of the police, their omnipresence and omnipotence over the population. (source: Venice Film Festival)

Mehdi Barsaoui, France, Italy, Tunisia, 2023, 125 min. Arabic spoken, Dutch subtitles. With atma Sfar, Nidhal Saadi, Yasmine Dimassi, Hela Ayed, Mohamed Ali Ben Jemaa.