Erige Sehiri’s UNDER THE FIG TREES Joins The Official Competition At Carthage Film Festival

release date October 18 2022

UNDER THE FIG TREES by Erige Sehiri returns to its hometown for its Arab world premiere at the 33rd Carthage Film Festival (October 29th - November 5th ) in the presence of the film’s cast and crew. The film shall join the official competition of the Carthage Film Festival, which is one of the biggest, most prestigious, and oldest Arab film festivals that was founded in 1961.

This year's edition marks the launch of the Carthage Festival Critics' Week section, dedicated to the first and second feature work. This is part of the official competition that will be open to all filmmakers from all over the world in a program for seven feature films, during the launch of Carthage Industry Days.

The film had its world premiere at Cannes International Film Festival, in which it received the EcoPro jury award in Directors’ Fortnight. Also, it joined Toronto International Film Festival in Canada, International Film Festival Karlovy Vary, and Sarajevo Film Festival. In addition to competing in Melbourne International Film Festival’s official competition and CineVision competition at Filmfest München.

UNDER THE FIG TREES was critically acclaimed by the world’s most reputable media. “A thoughtful Tunisian drama,” wrote Alex Heeney in Seventh Row. “Under the Fig Tree is a pleasurable and immersive experience that offers an elegant, understated tapestry of complex interactions,” said Lovia Gyarkye in Hollywood Reporter. While Amber Wilkinson paid tribute via Screen Daily for the attractive incarnation of summer flirtations and described the film as a delicate human drama. "There is much to admire in the cast of unprofessional actors," said Kaleem Aftab via Cineuropa.

Taking place over one day, among the trees, yet watched by the older generation, a group of teens working the summer harvest catch feelings, try to understand each other, and navigate the complicated terrain of building deeper ties.

UNDER THE FIG TREES is Erige Sehiri’s first feature film. She directed the awards winner feature-length documentary RAILWAY MEN. UNDER THE FIG TREES film project won the MAD Solutions and Gouna Film Festival award in the Final Cut workshop at Venice Film Festival and the Altas Post Production award at Marrakech International Film Festival.

UNDER THE FIG TREES is directed by Erige Sehiri and co-written by Ghalya Lacroix and Peggy Hamann. The film stars Fide Fdhili, Feten Fdhili, Ameni Fdhili, Samar Sifi and Abdelhak Mrabti. It is a joint production between Tunisia (Henia Production Company), Switzerland (Akka Films Company), and France (Maneki Films Company). Frida Marzouk is the DOP and music by Amine Bouhafa, distributed globally by Luxbox Company, while MAD Solutions is responsible for distributing and marketing the film in the Arab world.

Erige Sehiri is a Tunisian-French director and producer. A former journalist, she started her career as a documentary filmmaker. Her groundbreaking feature documentary, RAILWAY MEN, reflecting the daily struggle of railway workers against the failures of the national railways, screened for six consecutive weeks in Tunisian theaters.

In 2022, she wrote, directed, and produced her first fiction feature, UNDER THE FIG TREES, which won several awards at the Venice International Film Festival (Final Cut in Venice) and joined the selection of the 54th Director’s Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival 2022. UNDER THE FIG TREES, was selected to be Tunisia’s official submission at the Oscars for Best International Feature Film 2023.