Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia

Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia ( Arabic أحمد بهاء الدين عطية, DMG Aḥmad Bahāʾ ad-Dīn ʿAṭiyya ; * May 26, 1946 in Sousse ; died August 10, 2007 in Tunis ) was a Tunisian film producer , film director and screenwriter . He gained fame as the producer of the films Halfaouine - Time of Dreams by Férid Boughedir , Palace of Silence by Moufida Tlatli and Man from Ashes by Nouri Bouzid . He was director of the Carthage Film Festival (fr: Journées cinématographiques de Carthage - JCC) in 1992, 1994 and 2004 and founder of the production company Cinétéléfilms and the Association Internationale des Producteurs Indépendants de la Méditerranée (APIMED) in 1997 He presided over the union of Tunisian producers (Chambre Syndicale des Producteurs Tunisiens) and the Coordination Maghrébine des Exploitants Distributeurs, founded in 2003.

Life

Born and raised in Sousse, Attia spent his youth in film clubs and with amateur filmmakers before studying literature in Paris . He then studied directing in Rome and completed his studies with Il Bollorino , a black-and-white work, as a diploma film. He began his professional career initially as an assistant director, worked in 1974 as production manager on the televised film Roma rivuole Cesare by Miklós Jancsó and was a member of the productions of The Life of Brian by director Terry Jones and Il ladrone by Pasquale Festa Campanile in the role of production manager. In 1986 he worked as an administrator for the film Les roses de Matmata by director José Pinheiro. During the 80s he worked for some time with Tarak Ben Ammar as a director for his production company Carthago Films before he decided to found his own production company, Cinétéléfilms , in 1983. With its own production company, Attia has produced a number of films that are among the most important in Tunisian cinema today, including those by the directors Boughedir, Tlatli and Bouzid. Still, Attia is said to have complained often about the state of Tunisian cinema. In 1955 there were 150 screening rooms for 3 million people in Tunisia, and in 2007 there were still 15 halls for 10 million people. As a result, Attia got involved in promoting Tunisian cinema.

For a number of years he was president and later general secretary of the Association des Cinéastes Tunisiens . From 1975 to 1985 he was Vice President of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI) , from 1989 to 1995 Executive Secretary of the same. In 1997 he founded the Association des Producteurs Indépendants de la Méditerranée (APIMED) , of which he was chairman from 1997 and from 2000 headed the Chambre Syndicale des Producteurs Tunisiens . He also headed the Coordination Maghrébine des Exploitants Distributeurs , which was founded in January 2003 . As a film activist, Attia combined his life with professional activities, thinking a lot, writing down and proposing practical solutions to all the difficulties this sector was facing in his country and on the continent. Attia believed in the North-South dialogue and the universality of cinema, regardless of its origin. Attia was aware of the weakness of the domestic market, so he always tried to open up his productions for the international market. In addition to his work as a jury member for the Carthage Film Festival and as its director in 1992, 1994 and 2000, he was a jury member of the International Istanbul Film Festival , the International Film Festival of Cannes and the Mostra de Valencía - Cinema del Mediterrani and the Festival International du Film de Mons.

The Tunisian Ministry of Culture announced the death of the producer on August 11, 2007. The then President of Tunisia, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali , paid tribute to the deceased's long “artistic journey” and his “outstanding contribution to cultural life and the promotion of Tunisian cinema” in a message to the family of the deceased. The film critic Tahar Chikhoui told the AFP that Attia died of complications from cancer and was to be buried on August 11, 2007 in his hometown of Sousse. Many female artists - breaking with Muslim tradition and without covering their heads with a scarf - took part. The French journalist and director Serge Moati was also present. The middle name Attias is often only found abbreviated as Baha in publications or press articles. Friends are said to have called Attia briefly and affectionately during her lifetime "Hmayed", as Jeune Afrique wrote in the obituary for the producer. His son, Habib Attia, continues the Cinétéléfilms as a producer . In May 2019, the organizers of the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) announced at a press conference in the Pavilion of Tunisia as part of the Cannes Film Festival that the edition of the festival in Luxor in March 2020 would include Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia, Sotigui Kouyaté and the Egyptian actress and Singer Akila Ratib will be dedicated.

Creating as a producer

During his career, Attia produced feature films and short films, documentaries, television series and, in the last years of his life, also animated films. In addition to producing such successful films as Halfaouine - Time of Dreams and Palace of Silence , in 1992 he produced the award-winning film Le sultan de la Médina by Moncef Dhouib and the short film Fifty fifty mon amour by director Nadia El Fani, followed by the television series El Douar by the Tunisian director Abdelkader Jerbi in the same year. Attia's collaboration with director Nouri Bouzid was long- lasting, for whom he made his feature film debut Mann aus Assche from 1986, Safa'ih min dhahab in 1989, followed by Bezness - Business - Das Business mit der Sehnsucht and Bent familia in the 90s Years of production. For the documentary La guerre du Golfe ... et après? which are made up of 5 short films by the Tunisian directors Nouri Bouzid ( C'est Shéhérazade qu'on assassine ) and Nejia Ben Mabrouk ( A la recherche de Saïma ), Borhane Alaouié ( Eclipse d'une nuit noire ) from Lebanon , from Morocco- born director Mostafa Derkaoui with his contribution Le Silence and Hommage par assassinat by Elia Suleiman and deals with the issues of the Second Gulf War , Attia was the producer in 1993.

As Executive Producer, Attia worked in 1991 for two episodes on the television series Julianus barát by the Hungarian director and screenwriter Gábor Koltay, who, with his main character Györk, made old pagan sagas and the original homeland of the Magyars discover. In 1993 he also worked as Executive Producer for the French television film Leïla née en France by Miguel Courtois and the feature film Le nombril du monde by Ariel Zeitoun , a story about Bajou in Tunisia under French protectorate, for which Michel Boujenah was best for the César Leading actor and Thomas Langmann for whom César was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 1994. The film Madame Butterfly , produced by Attia for Frédéric Mitterrand , was also honored with a win by César for Best Costume in 1996 for Christian Gasc and a nomination for Best Production Design for Michèle Abbé-Vannier . The short film Aïd El Kebir by Karin Albou, which was awarded the Grand Prix for Best Film in the national competition at the Festival du Court-Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand in 1999 , was created as a collaboration with producer Laurent Lavolé and Attia as well as 2 other filmmakers as co-producers . For the film The Daughter of Keltoum by director Mehdi Charef alone, 14 production companies and film sponsors were involved, Attia with its production company as well as Canal + and Eurimages . Making the story of a grown up in Switzerland woman who travels back to her native Algeria for her mother, was at the 2002 Torino Film Festival for the Turin Award of the City as a Best Picture nomination.

At the end of the 1980s, Attia was a co-producer of the film Le Train de Canhoca , a story about 19 political prisoners who travel to Luanda in a covered wagon . The train is held at Canhoca station for three days. In the sweltering heat, the prisoners' unity begins to crumble under thirst and hunger. For political reasons, the film by director Orlando Fortunato de Oliveira was only released in 2004. Together with the Syrian filmmaker Mohammad Malas , Attia wrote the script for the film Bab el makam , which he also produced with Malas as director. In 2000 Attia had the idea and the desire to tell the story of the Mediterranean, Carthage and the creative people of the Phoenicians beyond the gaze of Hollywood cinema or western filmmakers. He drafted the concept and during the making of the script it was decided to implement the story as an animation series for children between 8 and 14 years of age. In order to remain true to the history and culture of Carthage, the historian Hassine Fantar was brought in. The Algerian director Abdelkader Belhadi directed this project. The animated film, co-produced by Attia, took part in the Carthage Film Festival, the Views of Africa festival in Montreal and other festivals in Amsterdam and Portugal .

Works

film producer

• 1986: Man made of Ashes (fr: L'homme des cendres)
• 1989: Safa'ih min dhahab (fr: Les Sabots en or)
• 1990: Halfaouine - time of dreams
• 1991: Julianus barát (TV series)
• 1992: Bezness - Business - The business with longing (fr: Bezness)
• 1992: Le sultan de la Médina
• 1992: Fifty fifty mon amour (short film)
• 1992: El Douar (TV series)
• 1993: La guerre du Golfe ... et après? (Documentation)
• 1993: Leïla née en France (TV movie)
• 1993: Le nombril du monde
• 1994: Palace of Silence
• 1995: Madame Butterfly
• 1997: Bent familia (fr. Tunisiennes)
• 1999: Aïd El Kebir (short film)
• 2001: The daughter of Keltoum (fr: La fille de Keltoum)
• 2004: Le Train de Canhoca
• 2005: Viva Carthago (13-part animation series)
• 2005: Bab el makam (fr: Passion)

Film director

• 1969: Takrouna (Documentation b / w )
• 1969: Le vendeur d'eau (fictional film b / w)
• 1970: Il Bollerino (diploma film b / w)
• 1973: Lindindustrie de la chaussure (documentation b / w)
• 1974: L'Olivier (documentary)
• 1975: L'Université de Tunis (Documentation b / w)
• 1980: La Coté de corail (Documentation b / w)

Screenwriter

• 2005: Viva Carthago (13-part animation series)
• 2005: Bab el makam (fr: Passion)

literature

• Bernard Noël, Patrick Brunie: La bataille navale, suivi de Histoire d'un film invisible - Un récit pour le cinéma. Esprit des péninsules, 1999, ISBN 2-910435-59-8 .
• Horst Schäfer, Walter Schobert: Fischer Film Almanach : Films, Festivals, Tendencies / July 1999. With TV and video premieres (Fischer Cinema). Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, ISBN 3-596-12229-5 .
• Khemaïs Khayati: En désespoir d'image: chroniques de cinéma et de télévision. Editions Sahar, 2000, ISBN 9973-28-082-2 .
• Les cinémas d''Afrique: dictionnaire. Karthala Editions, 2000, ISBN 2-84586-060-9 .
• Tahar Fazaa: Ulysse au pays des merguez. Apollonia Éditions, 2004, ISBN 9973-827-20-1 .
• Hedi Khelil: Abécédaire du cinéma tunisien. Simpact Tunis 2006, ISBN 9973-61-457-7 .
• Medias France Intercontinents: Cinémas africains d'aujourd'hui: guide des cinématographies d'Afrique. Karthala Editions, 2007, ISBN 978-2-84586-889-2 .
• British Film Institute, British Institute of Adult Education: Sight and Sound. Volume 14, Issues 1–6, British Film Institute, 2004, Digitized April 15, 2008 from the original at the University of California , Google Books, page 45, accessed September 27, 2019
• Hamid Miduni: Ahmed Baha Eddine Attia: une vie comme au cinéma. Editions Rives Productions, 2008, ISBN 978-9973-807-88-5 .
• Robert Lang: New Tunisian Cinema: Allegories of Resistance. Columbia University Press , 2014, ISBN 978-0-231-16506-8 .

Documentation

After the Iraq crisis between Washington, DC and Baghdad threatened to escalate in 2003 , 100 international filmmakers decided to do something under the label Freedom2speak . In 2004 filmmakers from all over the world had their say in a documentary, alongside Dustin Hoffman , Heino Ferch , Marie Bäumer and many others, Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia, who wrote “They tore down the statues and destroyed them with American tanks, but Saddam won 't be defeated simply by destroying his statues or even by deposing him ”was quoted in the press sheet.

In 2007, shortly before Attia's death, director Ridha Behi met with him for the short film Ahmed Baha Eddine Attia, l'aventurier , thereby creating a portrait of the film producer. In another documentary from 2008 under the title Ahmed Attia, producteur malgré tout , director Khaled W. Barsaoui drew a “sketch of the portrait of Ahmed Baha Eddine Attia, a man in the turmoil of images and despite everything a producer”.

Web links

• Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia in the Internet Movie Database (English) and Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Mohamed Habib Ladjimi Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia (fr). In: Jeune Afrique . August 27, 2007 and onwards Cinétéléfilms - Qui sommes-nous? (fr). - Cinétéléfilms , accessed September 26, 2019.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Biography Ahmed Baha Eddine Attia (fr). - Africiné , accessed September 26, 2019.
3. ^ Décès du producteur algérien Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia (fr). - La Presse and further on L'édition 2020 du Festival de Louxor rendra hommage à la mémoire du producteur tunisien Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia (fr). - Web Manager Center , May 24, 2019, accessed September 27, 2019.
4. ^ Fragments d'une Tunisie contemporaine: La guerre du Golfe ... et après? (fr). - MuCEM , accessed September 27, 2019.
5. ↑ Le Train de Canhoca (Combio de Canhoca) (fr). - Lumières d'Afrique and furthermore Author: Samira Dami Entretien avec Mohamed Habib Attia ... (fr). - ToonMed , August 15, 2009, accessed September 28, 2019.
6. ↑ Film data sheet Freedom2speak v2.0. - Berlinale Archive 2004 and further as a PDF press sheet: Freedom2speak v2.0. - freedom2speak.net , accessed September 27, 2019.
7. ↑ Ahmed Baha Eddine Attia, l'aventurier (fr). - Africiné and also Ahmed Attia, producteur malgré tout (fr). - Africiné , accessed September 28, 2019.