Al-Mohammadia

Directed by Ahmed Bennys

Mohammadia is one of those rare gems that have earned both critical acclaim and wide audience popularity over generations, a film that is both uniquely eccentric and utterly seminal. Traveling between contemporary Tunisia (shot in exquisite 16mm black-and-white) and 100 years prior to independence (narrated with ink-etched cutouts), Mohammadia re-envisages official colonial history. The film recounts, in the style of a folk tale, how Bey Ahmed I became smitten with Versailles after a trip to Paris and decided to build an equally sumptuous palace for himself in Tunis, driving his country to ruin in the bargain.