Astra Vies for the Best Short Film Award at the Carthage Film Festival (JCC)

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Landing its Hometown Premiere

Astra Vies for the Best Short Film Award at the Carthage Film Festival (JCC)


Tunisian short film Astra by director Nidhal Guiga will compete in the Official Competition - Short Films
at the 29th Carthage Film Festival (JCC) (November 3-10) marking its hometown premiere. The film will compete with 11 other films.

Astra follows Dali, who takes care of his daughter Douja who has Down Syndrome. One day and against his wife's advice, Dali takes Douha to an amusement park called Astra. In this park, a bizarre dry world is revealed to them.

Created in 1961, the Carthage Film Festival is the oldest event of its kind on the African continent and the Arab World. This year, the festival will screen more than 200 films, produced in 2017 and 2018, from 47 countries in its different sections, including 54 Arab films.

Astra made its world premiere at the 14th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), where it competed in the Muhr Short competition. Written and directed by Nidhal Guiga, Astra stars Nejib Belkadhi, Douja Boukhriss, Nour Mkaouer, Yasmine Ben Mahmoud and Nidhal Guiga. The film is produced by Dora Bouchoucha (Nomadis Images), Imed Marzouk (Propaganda Productions) and Omar Ben Ali (SVP) with the support of the Centre national du Cinéma et de l'image Animée (CNC) and the Ministry of Culture -Tunisia. MAD Solutions is handling the film's distribution in the Arab world.

Nidhal Guiga is an actress, author, director and university professor. She worked in theatre for 20 years and directed several plays. She wrote and directed her own works, such as An Hour and a Half after Me, and Gagarine's Point of View (Pronto Gagarine). She served as a jury member at the Carthage Film Festival.