Tarak Ben Ammar

Production

Tarak Ben Ammar

Born 1949-06-12 · Tunis, Tunisia

Tarak Ben Ammar (Arabic: طارق بن عمّار; born June 12, 1949) is a Tunisian-French film producer and distributor; the owner of French production and distribution company Quinta Communications. He is famous for his interest in artistic movies, especially when they are related to Mediterranean culture or require North African locations. His producing credits include the Franco Zeffirelli film adaptation of La Traviata, Claude Chabrol's Death Rite, and Jean-Jacques Annaud's Black Gold (2011 Qatari film). Ben Ammar became well-known in France, at the beginning of 2004, when he decided to distribute The Passion of The Christ after everybody else declined. He appeared on television talk shows, defending the movie. He is also known as the advisor of international investor Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdul Aziz, and French businessman Vincent Bolloré. He was formerly a manager of Michael Jackson's HIStory World Tour. Ben Ammar was born in Tunis, Tunisia; to a French Catholic mother of Corsican descent who converted to Islam, and to a Tunisian Muslim father. He was raised Muslim. He is the brother of writer Hélé Béji. His aunt Wassila Ben Ammar was the wife of the first President of Tunisia, Habib Bourguiba. Ben Ammar resides in France, with two of his three sons, Neil and Tarak Jr., and his model-singer daughter Sonia Ben Ammar, from his marriage to actress Beata (née Sonczuk) who is of Polish descent. Source: Article "Tarak Ben Ammar" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Virgin Territory poster
5.0

In Black Death era Tuscany, as in the Decameron, ten young Florentines take refuge from the plague. But instead of telling stories, they have lusty adventures, bawdy exchanges, romance, swordplay, randy nuns, Saracen pirates, and a sexy cow.

Virgin Territory

2007

The Adolescent poster
4.8

In the summer of 1939, 13-year-old Marie goes with her parents to visit her grandparents in a small town near Avignon. Marie discovers her femininity and falls for a young Jewish doctor, but he prefers Eva, Marie's mother.

The Adolescent

1979

The Last Legion poster
5.6

As the Roman empire crumbles, young Romulus Augustus flees the city and embarks on a perilous voyage to Britain to track down a legion of supporters.

The Last Legion

2007

Femme Fatale poster
6.2

A $10-million diamond rip-off, a stolen identity, a new life married to a diplomat. Laure Ash has risked big, won big. But then a tabloid shutterbug snaps her picture in Paris, and suddenly, enemies from Laure's secret past know who and where she is. And they all want their share of the diamond heist. Or her life. Or both.

Femme Fatale

2002

Pirates poster
6.3

The adventures of pirate Captain Red and his first mate Frog.

Pirates

1986

A Matador's Mistress poster
5.8

Scandal erupts over a famous bullfighter's affair with a left-wing actress.

A Matador's Mistress

2008

Black Gold poster
6.5

On the Arabian Peninsula in the 1930s, two warring leaders come face to face. The victorious Nesib, Emir of Hobeika, lays down his peace terms to rival Amar, Sultan of Salmaah. The two men agree that neither can lay claim to the area of no man’s land between them called The Yellow Belt. In return, Nesib adopts Amar’s two boys Saleeh and Auda as a guarantee against invasion. Twelve years later, Saleeh and Auda have grown into young men. Saleeh, the warrior, itches to escape his gilded cage and return to his father’s land. Auda cares only for books and the pursuit of knowledge. One day, their adopted father Nesib is visited by an American from Texas. He tells the Emir that his land is blessed with oil and promises him riches beyond his wildest imagination. Nesib imagines a realm of infinite possibility, a kingdom with roads, schools and hospitals all paid for by the black gold beneath the barren sand. There is only one problem. The precious oil is located in the Yellow Belt.

Black Gold

2011

Avenging Angelo poster
5.4

A woman who has recently discovered that she is the daughter of Angelo, a major mafia boss, decides to wreak vengeance when he is killed by a hitman. She's aided by his faithful bodyguard, with whom she soon falls in love.

Avenging Angelo

2002

Chromophobia poster
5.2

Encouraged by his editor to seek 'sexy stories that sell', a reporter preys upon the private life of an erstwhile friend, with disastrous results.

Chromophobia

2006

Mother poster
7.8

Henri Verneuil was born Achod Malakian of Armenian parentage on October 15, 1920, in Rodosto, Turkey, and his family fled to France and settled in Marseilles when he was a young child. He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel Mayrig, which he dedicated to his mother and made into this 1991 film with the same name.

Mother

1991

Outside the Law poster
6.6

After losing their family home in Algeria in the 1920s, three brothers and their mother are scattered across the globe. Messaoud joins the French army fighting in Indochina; Abdelkader becomes a leader of the Algerian independence movement in France and Saïd moves to Paris to make his fortune in the shady clubs and boxing halls of Pigalle.

Outside the Law

2010

Quarter to Two Before Jesus Christ poster
6.0

In ancient Rome, a simple pepboy for chars becomes involved in a coup against Cesar. Rahatlocum is a North African Roman colony where Julius Caesar came to spend an expensive holiday. The revolt rumbles among the locals who find a leader in the person of Ben-Hur Marcel.

Quarter to Two Before Jesus Christ

1982

588 rue Paradis poster
7.2

A successful playwright reflects on his journey from his Armenian roots to adapting in France, forty years after his family's move to Marseilles. He now goes by a new name to fit in better with French society.

588 rue Paradis

1992

More Beautiful Than Me You Die poster
6.1

Aldo and Marco are twins. Marco, a parish priest, has always been his mother's pride and joy, whereas Aldo has a history of repeated prison stints. A womanizer and high-rolling gambler constantly in need of cash, he frequently finds himself embroiled in wild, shady schemes—most of which go awry. Wanted by the police, he flees to Tunisia, posing as his brother Marco and disguised as a priest. There, he reconnects with his childhood friend Prosper, dragging him into a life of reckless escapades, chasing after a million-dollar fortune and pretty women alike.

More Beautiful Than Me You Die

1982

American Skin poster
7.0

A Marine veteran working as a school janitor tries to mend his relationship with his son after a divorce. When his son is killed by a police officer found innocent without standing trial, he takes matters into his own hands.

American Skin

2019

Hannibal Rising poster
6.3

The story of the early, murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter – from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a medical student he hones his appetite for the kill and learnt sword skills from his Japanese girlfriend, who happened to have similar fate

Hannibal Rising

2007

The Other poster
7.7

A man who survives an earthquake is convinced that there is another man still stuck in the debris.

The Other

1991

Boys on the Run poster
4.4

When Jessy burns down his adoptive parents garage he is put into a youth prison. There he meets Roark another troublemake with whom he escapes and ends up in deserted woodlands. On their way they meet Rain, a girl that flees from her militia-captain Father. Together and with the Militia on their trail they try to escape in the hope of finding somewhere to make a new start of their lives.

Boys on the Run

2003

Voyage poster
5.3

Morgan and Catherine Norvell have their future plans ready. In Monte Carlo, their sailboat is stocked. From there they are going to sail to Malta and live on the boat for a year. They have bought some real estate with an old ruin of a hotel on it, which they are going to rebuild. A few days before they are about to start, they meet Gil and Ronnie Freeland. They would give anything to join them for a couple of days on the sea, and no sooner said than done, all four of them are enjoying the sweet life on the boat. The Norvells soon discover that it was a big mistake to invite them on board...

Voyage

1993

No artwork available
NR

The fourth installment in the franchise. Plot TBA.

Rush Hour 4

Young Toscanini poster
6.7

A fanciful biopic of legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini as a very young man.

Young Toscanini

1988

Misunderstood poster
6.5

A workaholic father becomes sole parent to his two young sons, and finds it hard to relate to them, consumed as he is with his own grief.

Misunderstood

1983

La traviata poster
7.1

This “Traviata” became one of the most succesful of all opera films, especially in France, where 800,000 Parisian cinemagoers flocked to it in the first six week. It was nominated for two Oscars (for production and costume design) and won BAFTAs in those two categories, as well as receiving BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations as 1983’s Best Foreign-Language Film.

La traviata

1982

On a Moonlit Night poster
6.7

An American journalist working for a French newspaper is writing an article on the public reaction to those with AIDS, unaware that he too is infected. Once he finds out, he decides to go into reclusion, leaving his wife and daughter.

On a Moonlit Night

1989