Best Tunisian drama movies

The Flower of Aleppo (2016)

Salma is a 37 years old paramedic nurse working in private and public hospitals in Tunisia. When her only son, Murad, go to Syria to join the terrorist movement Al-Nusra Front, Salma infiltrate the jihadists with the aim to bring her son back to Tunisia.

The TV Is Coming (2006)

The small south Tunisian village of Al-Malga (literally "The Shelter") is spurred into action when a series of phone calls from the capital announce the impending visit of a prestigious production team from German television in the region. Consequently, the town's cultural committee decides to give a positive image of the village and the country and creates an artificial veneer, substantially camouflaging the reality. Chaos ensues as the committee's sycophantic chairman, an ardent feminist, and a number of other unusual characters disagree on the best course of action.

The Crow's Siesta (2018)

After losing their restaurant in the capital, Fatma and her husband Ibrahim are forced to run another restaurant in the desert. But in this universe of sand they meet Mokhtar, a wizard capable of digging up treasures that have been buried underground for centuries.

A Son (2020)

Tunisia, summer 2011. The holiday to the South of the country ends in disaster for Fares, Meriem and their 10-year-old son Aziz, when he is accidentally shot in an ambush. His injury will change their lives: Aziz needs a liver transplant, which leads to discovery of a long-buried secret. Will Aziz and the relationship survive?

Black Medusa (2021)

Nada is a young woman leading a double life. During the daytime she’s quiet and reserved, but after dark she dives into the nightlife of Tunis and picks up men. First, she lets them tell their stories – as she doesn’t speak, she acts as a kind of confidante – then beats the hell out of them. When a new colleague, Noura, arrives at her workplace and Nada finds a mythical knife at the home of one of her victims, events are unleashed over which Nada has less and less control.

Under the Fig Trees (2022)

Among the trees, young women and men working the summer harvest develop new feelings, flirt, try to understand each other, find – and flee – deeper connections.

Even God Won't Forgive (2022)

Nasser is a Tunisian serial killer who committed several murders in the 1980s; he was the country’s last prisoner executed; this film follows his life, psychology, and history.

Filth (2006)

Mounir is a reserved and idle night watchman. On a very lonely night, he finds a strange manner of entering the life of Latifa, his pretty neighbour with whom he is secretly in love. The unusual means will turn him into the secret witness of Latifa's agitated life and will lead him to dangerous extremes of passion.

Tomorrow (2022)

Habib and his 15 year old son Ahmed from his previous marriage, are brought together by Habib’s worsening state of health. Habib’s political past during the dictatorship in Tunisia is dangerously affecting his present. The roles are reversed, Ahmed has to protect his father and try to keep him safe. Habib and Ahmed find themselves in a chaotic position that neither is prepared for.

Printemps tunisien (2014)

The Wedding Song (2008)

The Nazi occupation of Tunisia strains the bonds of friendship between a Muslim woman and a Sephardic Jewess who are both preparing for their marriages.

Golden Butterfly (2021)

A policeman with a violent past meets a small boy with whom he undertakes a fantastic journey.

Roots, Only Roots (2017)

During a clandestine tour in Italy, an interview between an immigrant and two journalists takes an unexpected turn. The disclosed events prove to be dreadful.

Wanderers of the Desert (1986)

A young teacher arrives to take over a village school isolated in the shimmering desert. Legendary figures materialize out of wells and the desert itself, groups of children hurry through a labyrinth of underground corridors, and the teacher is whisked away to a mysterious rendezvous and never returns.

لآخر نفس (2020)

Bastardo (2013)

Larger-than-life characters populate director Nejib Belkadhi’s spellbinding combination of film noir and magic realism, which follows a downtrodden orphan — now grown but still saddled with a cruel nickname — who has a reversal of fortune and takes on the thugs who control his ghetto.

The Needle (2023)

Dali and Mariem are impatiently awaiting the arrival of their first child. On the day of delivery, the doctor tells them that the baby has a rare characteristic. Upset by this news and confronted with his demons, Dali is no longer able to play his role with Mariem and their child.

The Season of Men (2000)

An 18 year old on the island Djerba, Aicha, is married to Said, who works in Tunis for much of the year. Aicha breaks with tradition and decides to join Said in Tunis, weaving rugs to make money. Said asks that she give him a son, so Aicha lives under the rule of her mother-in-law.

Isola (2017)

On an island lost between two worlds, Dai, a young Chinese woman, survives alone in a cave, waiting for the baby that swells her womb day after day. Around the harbour which, every day, flurry with the arrival of hundreds of migrants, she searches tirelessly the face of the man she loves, her husband. One, night her wish is to be fulfilled

Benzine (2017)

In southeastern Tunisia, Salem and Halima spend months waiting for news of their son Ahmed, who has been smuggled overseas to Italy.

The Son of Amir Is Dead (1977)

Pierre, a young man of Brussels, has lost his job. Unbeknowst to Barbara, the woman he lives with, he has become a pickpocket to survive. He works in partnership with a young Tunisian immigrant he meets every Sunday in an abandoned bus where they share the loot of the week. One day, Pierre finds his accomplice dead in their hiding place. Pierre suddenly realizes that he does not know much about his dead friend. Taking possession of his identity papers, Pierre decides to go to Tunisia to find out who his friend actually was.

The Girl from Carthage (1924)

The Girl from Carthage (also known as La fille de Carthage) is a 1924 Tunisian film directed by Albert Samama Chikly.

Man of Ashes (1986)

In the ensuing days before his wedding bridegroom Hachemi faces both the anxieties of the future and the shadows of the past. His best friend, Farfat, is the topic of street graffiti and local gossip, which calls his manhood into question. This ripples out to affect Hachemi for, unbeknownst to anyone, as apprenticed youths they were molested by Ameur, the local carpenter. Farfat is banished from his father's home and the shared secret between the two friends threatens to undo more than just the wedding, but their very lives.

Sun of the Hyenas (1977)

In a small, self-sufficient Tunisian fishing village, German developers set up a hotel infrastructure, with the complicity of local councillors. The lives of the villagers are turned upside down.

Fractus (0)

Yassine, the son of an authoritarian father and a depressive mother, has managed to maintain a relatively balanced facade throughout his life. It is his powerful crush on Leïla, a classmate, that will finally tip this precarious balance.

Honey and Ashes (1998)

Set against the vibrant backdrop of contemporary North Africa, this drama follows three women as they navigate the complex interplay between tradition and modernity. Each woman, driven by her own desires for success and meaningful relationships, faces societal pressures and cultural constraints that test their resolve. As their lives unexpectedly intersect, they reveal the shared struggles and resilience needed to overcome the obstacles placed in their path.

Tomorrow (2022)

Habib and his 15-year-old son, from his previous marriage, are brought together by Habib’s worsening state of health. Habib’s political past during the dictatorship in Tunisia is dangerously affecting his present. The roles are reversed, Ahmed has to protect his father and try to keep him safe. Habib and Ahmed find themselves in a chaotic position that neither is prepared for.

Foreign Body (2016)

In the turbulent aftermath of the Tunisian revolution, young Samia flees her homeland. She braves hostile seas in the crossing to France, but once there she finds that her struggles have only just begun. With no friends, no family, and — most crucially — no immigration papers, Samia has to figure out how to make a life and a living in a foreign land. She meets a young man, Imed, and soon finds work in the employ of the elegant Leila. But her presence in Leila's middle-class household triggers a shift in its dynamics, and soon Samia is enmeshed in a web of sexual tension.

Zohra (1922)

Saved from shipwreck, a little girl is taken into the protection of the North-African tribal chief and named "Zohra".

Shattered Waves (2017)

Hassouna, a Tunisian officer in the French army, is committed to the cause of independence of his country. He transmits information to the independentists activists' networks. Once he discovers a list of Tunisian betrayers, he faces rejection and persecution.