Tlamess by director Ala Eddine Slim won the Jury Award at the 60th Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece, which concluded its events last Sunday. Distributed by MAD Solutions in the Arab world, the film landed its world premiere at the recent edition of the Cannes Film Festival within the Directors' Fortnight Section.

The film revolves around S, a young soldier in the Tunisian desert. When his mother dies, he gets a week’s leave and goes back home. But he never returns to the barracks and becomes the target of a manhunt through the backstreets of his working-class neighborhood, before vanishing into the mountains. Several years later, F, a young woman married to a rich businessman finds out that she’s pregnant. One morning, she leaves her luxurious villa and disappears into the forest.

Written, edited and directed by Ala Eddine Slim, Tlamess stars Abdullah Miniawy, Souhir Ben Amara and Khaled Ben Aissa. The crew also includes sound engineer Moncef Taleb and DOP Amine Messadi. It is a Tunisian/French production through Exit Productions and Still Moving, with support from the Franco-Tunisian Fund, the Tunisian Ministry of Culture Fund, as well as the Aide aux Cinémas du Monde; a fund managed by the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée in France, and the World Cinema Fund Europe. MAD Solutions handles the film's distribution in the Arab world.

Ala Eddine Slim is a Tunisian filmmaker. He has directed several short films, art videos and feature films, which have been selected and received multiple awards at many international film festivals, including Clermont-Ferrand and the Grand Prix FID Marseille 2012 for Babylon.

In 2016, he directed his feature film The Last of Us, which took part in numerous international festivals and received wide critical acclaim and several awards, such as the Lion of the Future for Best Technical Contribution at the Venice Film Festival 2016, and the Tanit d’Or at the Carthage Film Festival. Tlamess is his second feature film.