Filmmaker, film Critic and Historian
Tunisia
Born 1944. He is the son of Taoufik Boughedir, a novelist, playwright and man of culture.
His artistic career began as a film critic through his books and publications on the history of African and Arab cinema and his articles in the magazine Jeune Afrique. He directed two long documentaries presented in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival: Twenty Years of African Cinema (1983) and Arab Camera (1987). His first work of fiction, Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces (1990) was crowned with several awards, including the Golden Tanit at the Carthage Film Festival. His second-long narrative, A Summer in La Goulette, was selected in the official competition at the 1996 Berlinale before receiving, the same year, the Prize of the Biennale of Arab Cinemas in Paris. His third long narrative film, Sweet Smell of Spring, won the prize for Best Arab Film at the Cairo International Film Festival 2016.
In 1992, Boughedir was delegate general at the 14th edition of the Carthage Film Festival, of which he became vice-president in 2000 and 2002 then director in 2006, before receiving the festival’s 50th anniversary prize at its 27th edition in 2016. He was also member of the official juries of the Cannes Film Festival, in 1991 in the long film category and in 2009 in the short film category, of the Berlinale (1997) and the Venice Film Festival (1999), as well as president of the jury of FESPACO (2001).
In 2016, he was the only Tunisian to appear in the top 50 of the most important Arab personalities of the year published by the weekly The Middle East Magazine "for his artistic talent who has excelled through his films, in promoting an image of his country, Tunisia, on a global scale".
LAFF also is publishing this year a book on his career: Férid Boughedir, Pioneer of Pan-African Cinema
