Production
Dora Bouchoucha
Born 1957-10-11 · Tunis, Tunisia
Acting credits
Behind the camera
7.0In 1997, six African women pledged that in the first year of the new millennium they would tell their stories, stories by African women. They called their series "Mama Africa" and drew their tales from the depths of their hearts. The result is a groundbreaking initiative bringing together the incredibly fresh talents of six female directors from the vast and diverse continent of Africa.
Mama Africa
2002
6.7Young Tunisian Hedi lives an ordered life in which he believes there can be no more surprises. His future will play out as other people have planned, until he meets a young woman named Rim at a hotel in Mahdia Hediand. An ostensibly personal story broadens into a panorama of a society in upheaval, an allegory about breaking away from traditions. And a film about the happiness and pain of freedom.
Hedi
2016
NRSamaan, a young Christian man, works as a security guard in a residential building in downtown Cairo. Quiet and introspective, he spends his nights writing stories and chasing his dream of publishing his first novel. Beneath his calm surface, Samaan carries deep wounds—the lasting effects of chronic PTSD, rooted in the traumatic loss of his father, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Libya during Samaan’s childhood. One day, amid the noise and routine of the city, Samaan crosses paths with Fatima, a young Muslim woman. What begins as a simple encounter soon blossoms into an extraordinary friendship—one that slowly begins to break down the walls Samaan has built around his trauma.
Safe Exit
2026
8.0A series of six dramatic shorts, each from a different African country and all on the broad theme of "love in Africa."
Africa Dreaming
1997
6.2Extremism slices through a Tunisian family with the realization that their teenage son has become an ISIS fighter.
Dear Son
2018
5.7A teenager unwittingly reveals a terrible family secret to her new neighbors.
Buried Secrets
2009
7.0This film explores the impact of the modern world on the traditional male society of the Maghreb. It is a film about men who prefer to live life as an abstract game and the free-spirited woman who changes everything. Said and Youssef have fulfilled a life-long dream by opening a "chess bar" in the middle of the desert. They sit around drinking palm wine, playing board games and composing love poetry to imaginary women. All this changes with the arrival of Sarah, a sexually liberated, uninhibited metisse who easily lures Youssef into an affair. Soon he is dreaming not about chess but about opening a coffee bar in Genoa. The friendship is destroyed, the bar sold. Youssef, dressed in Western clothes, waits to leave with Sarah; will she show up? Said boards a train and sits down next to a Westernized woman bearing a resemblance to Sarah
Sabriya
1997
9.0After the accidental death of her taxi-driver husband, Salma decides to become master of her own life by taking over his taxi. She comes up against the Kafkaesque procedures of Tunisian bureaucracy and the offhandedness of the insurance industry, but refuses to let go and is not intimidated by anything. With quiet determination, she also faces the conservatism of her in-laws who, under the pretext of morality, continue to dictate the way she should behave. In order to create a better future for her daughter but also for herself, Salma is locked in a daily struggle with the world around her.
Salma
2014
6.4After the death of her husband, Lilia's life revolves solely around her teenage daughter, Salma. Whilst looking for Salma late one night, Lilia stumbles upon a belly dance cabaret and though initially reserved and taken aback by the culture of the place, Lilia gets consistently drawn back to it. She befriends one of the belly dancers and is encouraged into dancing for the audience. Lilia also starts a romance with one of the cabaret's musicians, who unbeknown to both of them, is also romancing Salma.
Satin Rouge
2002
NRIn 2008, residents of Redeyef, a Tunisian city heavily reliant on phosphate production, rose against state corruption and the dire, unhealthy, and perilous conditions of their existence. This revolt marked the first significant protest movement against Ben Ali’s oppressive regime and its police state despite facing brutality and tyranny in response. While not a complete success, it ignited a spark of resistance among the Tunisian people, awakening them to the deteriorating levels of freedom. This uprising paved the way for the 2011 revolution and the Arab Spring.
Cursed Be the Phosphate
2012

