The Tunisian film 'Streams,' directed by Mehdi Hmili, will have its Arab premiere at the 43rd Cairo International Film Festival, which will take place from November 26 to December 5, 2021, as part of the festival's Horizons of Arab Cinema competition. It will be screened on Wednesday, December 1 at 12:30 p.m. at the Cairo Opera House small hall.
 
The film, 'Streams,' received critical acclaim following its international debut at the Locarno Festival in the Netherlands, where it participated in the Filmmakers of the Present (Concorso Cineasti del presente) competition. Moreover, the film received generally good reviews from several critics, among which is the Film book website, which described it as, “a cinematic masterpiece with an exceptional acting performance, there is no time in the film where you feel unoriginal due to the director, it is a unique and honest film.” While the film was praised by Al-Arab newspaper, which described it as "an exhilarating voyage, in which the filmmaker managed to develop an attractive plot, generating a strong empathetic bond with viewers."
 
The film was screened at Zurich Film Festival, Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur, Mostra de València – Cinema del Mediterrani, and the International Festival of Mediterranean Cinema in Montpellier (CINEMED).
 
The film follows the story of Amel who is just released from jail after being accused of an adulterous affair and embarks on a new journey to find her lost son Moumen in the lower depths of Tunis. Throughout her journey, Amel encounters a Tunisian culture in complete disarray.
 
Written and directed by Mehdi Hmili, Streams stars Afef Ben Mahmoud, Iheb Bouyahia, Zaza, Sarah Hannachi and Slim Baccar and features music composer Amine Bouhafa. MAD Solutions handles the film’s distribution across the Arab world. The film is a joint production between Yol Film House (Tunisia), Tarantula (Luxembourg), MPM Film (France), Clandestino Production (Tunisia), in association with Allam Film (USA).
 
It was developed in the prestigious Canadian workshop (Grand Nord) and received the screenplay Prize of the Institut Français, the CineGouna post-production prize, as well as grants from The Tunisian National Center of Cinema, The Film Fund Luxembourg, and The French National Center of Cinema.
 
Mehdi Hmili is a Tunisian writer and filmmaker. He studied cinema in Tunisia before graduating from the Paris Film School. While in France, he directed his short trilogy about love and exile: “X-Moment” (2009), “Li-La” (2011), and “The Night of Badr” (2012). His first feature-length film, “Thala Mon Amour” (2016), was selected in worldwide film festivals like Torino Film Festival, Carthage Film Festival and won several prizes. His last production “Fouledh” was selected in La Fabrique Cinema at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.