Grenoble, France Hosts Festival Commemorating the Tunisian Revolution

Wiem Melki | 30 January 2012 | 0 Comments

Grenoble, France will host a cultural festival celebrating, and reflecting upon, the Tunisian Revolution. The festival, “Tunisia 2012 Between East and West,” will run from February 1st to February 29th.

The event was organized by the Tunisian Consulate in Grenoble, the Community Center of Social Action of Capuche (a center supporting social and cultural activities in Grenoble), local municipal libraries, and several French and Tunisian cultural and social organizations.

The festival will feature an exhibition consisting of different forms of artistic expression – such as theater, cinema, painting, photography, dancing, music, and even cooking.

One of the plays, “Hekayetna,” (“Our Stories” in Tunisian Arabic) by Baghdadi Aoun,  aims at portraying contemporary Tunisian life. The story recalls the trials of a myriad of characters during the Fatimid period, employing powerful and poetic language inspired by the oral heritage of southern Tunisia – expressed through a mix of literary Arabic and Southern Tunisian dialect.

“The goal of my play is to educate the public about the importance of the oral history of Tunisia,” Baghdadi said.

Tunisian cinema will be represented by a number of documentaries and fictional short, and feature-length, films. Among the films to be featured during the festival are, “No More Fear,” by Mourad Bechikh, “Freedom,” by Ferial Ben Mahmoud, and, “Jasmine Revolution,” by Nassar Ayad.  The films all focus on the events surrounding the Tunisian revolution as interpreted through the perceptions of the different directors.

The festival will also include a poetry reading entitled, “The Will of Life,” which will include poems by Abou El Kacem Chebbi – the legendary poet of Tunisia’s independence movement. Chebbi (who lived from 1909-1934) was best known for writing the final two verses of the current national anthem of Tunisia and other evocative, patriotic poems.

“In early 2011, the Tunisian people started the Jasmine Revolution. One year after the uprising that initiated the ‘Arab Spring,’ many actors – but also the libraries of institutions and associations in the city of Grenoble – wanted to honor Tunisia,” said Mohamed, one of the organizers working with the Tunisian Consulate in France.

He explained that the event aims at enhancing cultural life in Grenoble and enlightening French citizens about Tunisian culture and history.