Raouf Ben Amor

Raouf Ben Amor ( Arabic رؤوف بن عمر, DMG Raʾūf b. ʿUmar ; * December 24, 1946 in Tunis ) is a Tunisian film and theater actor and film producer . For the lead role of Youssef in the drama Tunis by Night by Elyes Baccar he was in 2017 at Cairo International Film Festival as an actor Best excellent.

Life

Ben Amor grew up in the Halfaouine district, north of the Tunis medina, and attended the Sadiki College during his school days. There he joined the school choir until Mohsen Ben Abdallah , a Tunisian theater actor and for many years director of the Théâtre municipal de Tunis, noticed him and integrated Ben Amor into the theater group. After completing his baccalaureate , he began studying at the Faculty of Arts - which until 1986 was called the Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines de Tunis , today's Faculté des sciences humaines et sociales de Tunis (FSHST) , which is part of the University of Tunis - in English and literature. At the same time, he joined the University Theater Center and was a member of a play that was awarded first place at the International Festival of University Theater in Istanbul in 1969. After the granting of a scholarship to the members of this theater performance by the Tunisian Ministry of Culture, Ben Amor had the opportunity to continue his studies for 3 more years at the City Literary Institute in London, where he also worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant. A tedious job, but he washed very carefully and once remembered this time in an interview and told the anecdote that the chef of the restaurant said to him: “C'est bien, c'est bien. On n'a jamais vu chez nous de la vaisselle aussi propre et aussi bien lavée. Tu as devant toi une grande carrière de plongeur ”(“ It's good, it's good. We have never seen dishes that are so clean and well washed. You have a great career as a dishwasher before you ”). He should have his career, but in a different way.

Ben Amor has not only worked as an actor or producer during his career, in 1976 he was a member of the management team at the Festival international de Carthage (FIC), which has taken place annually in July and August since 1964, and co-founder of the Festival Culturel Internationale de Assilah in Morocco. In 1978 he held the position of director of the International Festival of Tabarka, which from the beginning adopted a slogan: "Je ne veux pas bronzer idiot". From 1980 to 1995 he worked as director for animation and communication at the Tunisian-Kuwaiti Consortium for Development (CTKD), Abou Nawas Hotels. When Canal + Horizon started in Tunisia in 1992 , Ben Armor worked as an advisor to the general management during the first year of launch. In 1996 he was a member of the commission for theater production in the Ministry of Culture, is a member of the board of directors of the international cultural center Hammamet, member of the board of directors of the Tunisian national theater and was chairman of the cultural commission at the Africa Cup in 2004, responsible for the opening show and the cultural program related to this football tournament . The following year, at the men's handball world championship in 2005 , he was also an artistic advisor to the cultural commission for the opening show. In 2004 and 2005 he was the artistic director of the 41st and 42nd edition of the Festival international de Carthage (FIC). He was also Secretary of District 414 of Tunisia for the International Association of Lions Clubs and President of the Lions Club Tunis le Belvédère and is a member of the SOS Villages d'Enfants Tunisie . In 2019 he was a jury member - alongside the Ukrainian director and screenwriter Anna Kurnnaya, the General Delegate of FESPACO in Burkina Faso Ardiouma Soma, the Jordanian actor and playwright Ghannem Ghannem and the film researcher and specialist in Arab cinema Mathilde International Amateur Rouxel Kelibia Film Festival , responsible for the International Jury Section. He chaired the jury for the 1st edition of the theater festival “Ezzeddine Gannoun” 2019 in Tunis. Other jury members were the Lebanese actress and producer Carole Abboud, the Tunisian writer Walid Soliman , the Tunisian actress Héléne Catzaras and the director Etienne Minoungou from Burkina Faso.

In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded the Order of the Officier des Arts et Lettres (Order of the Arts and Literature) by Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 1990 . He received the Prix ​​National des Arts et Lettres for 1997 and 1999 on the Day of Culture, May 27, the Orden Commandeur de l'Ordre du Mérite Culture national (a national order of merit for the arts). On the occasion of the 20th edition of the Karthago Theatertage (fr: Journées théâtrales de Carthage - JTC) 2019, he and the Tunisian actress Zahira Ben Ammar were awarded the Saleh El Kassab creativity prize. Raouf Ben Amor is the father of 2 children.

Create

theatre

After Ben Amor returned from London, he joined the group of the “Théâtre du sud” by Gafsa in 1972 , where he was seen in the role of Jha in the first play Jha wa chark al hayer . In the following years he was constantly present on the country's theater stages. He starred in Borni wal Atra , an adaptation of the Italian play Bilora by Ruzante, performed at the opening of the Hammamet International Festival in 1973 . For the performance of the play L'héritage he worked in 1975 at the “Théâtre nouveau” with the first private theater company in Tunisia. In the '80s collaborations created for Tamthil klem the "Théâtre Phou" with Raja Ben Ammar , Moncef Essayem and Taoufik Jebali , 1985 with the ensemble "sense Mart" the piece Ismail Pacha in cooperation with Jebali and Mohamed Driss , which the International Festival of Carthage Opened in 1986. For the opening of the "El Teatro", founded in 1987 by Jebali, a private theater in Tunis, the play Mémoire d'un dinosaure, an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's play Refugee Talks, was performed and was part of the 1st Festival du Théâtre Expérimental du Caire & Alexandrie in 1988. The troupe of "El Teatro" was invited to the Berliner Ensemble and other theaters in Dresden and Rostock with the piece in 1989 . 20 years later, in 2007, Mémoire d'un dinosaure was revised and performed again at “El Teatro”, with Ben Amor and Jebali back as actors. In 1988, the National Theater of Tunis was already under the direction of the author and actor Driss, Ben Amor was seen, for example, in the production of Vive Shakespeare by Driss and Habib Bel Hedi.

Movie

Ben Amor began his film career in 1971 in the feature film debut Et demain by director Brahim Babaï based on the novel Et ma part d'horizon by Abdelkader Ben Cheikh. In 1976 he was cast by Roberto Rossellini for the role of Judas in The Messiah . At the end of the shooting days, Rossellini said to him: "Toi, mon vieux, tu feras une grande carrière cinématographique" (meaning: "You, old man, will have a great career in the cinema"). One can say that Ben Amor's career as a dishwasher was not predetermined, as he was in front of the camera with Pierre Richard for his film Two Camels on a Horse as a rebel leader in the 80s and made two other films with Roman Polański . In Polanski's film Pirates as the Guardian of the Arsenal and for Frantic as Dr. Metlaoui. He made two other films in 1988 and 1989 with director Kalthoum Bornaz before Mireille Darc signed him for her directorial debut La barbare (English title: Unrestrained). In Halfaouine - time of dreams by Férid Boughedir , he was seen as a hairdresser like the director himself. Ben Amor worked with several directors several times during his career. An example of this is the renewed collaboration with Babaï in 1990 for the film La nuit de la décennie based on the novel of the same name by the Tunisian writer, playwright and encyclopedist Mohamed Salah El Jebri and in 2002 for the film L'odyssée, also based on a novel with the Title Les Cendres de Carthage was created by Abdelaziz Belkhodja.

The film Écrans de sable , produced by Tarak Ben Ammar , for the Lebanon-born director Randa Chahal Sabag, showed Ben Amor in the role of the henchman alongside Michel Albertini and Maria Schneider . In LJ Munkler's 1992 thriller Deceptions , Ben Amor starred alongside Jason Robards , Brian Cox and Fred Williamson . Ben Amor also worked several times with director Nouri Bouzid . Starting in 1993 for the documentary La Guerre du Golfe ... et après? , a project of 5 short films based on an idea by producer Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia , to which Bouzid contributed the contribution C'est Shéhérazade qu'on assassine and Ben Amor engaged as an actor for the realization of the story of a family plagued by the Gulf War . In 1997 he was again in the role of Majid for the film Tunisiennes for Bouzid in front of the camera. In the feature film Habiba M'sika by director Selma Baccar , Ben Amor had one of the leading roles as Lamine and in 2005 in Baccar's film Fleur d'oubli with the leading role as a homosexual husband, he also took the risk of "bearing the brunt of the controversy". Although the subject of homosexuality was no longer a taboo in Tunisian films, according to Jeune Afrique , few Arab actors would have supported such a role. "Si Chedly", as Ben Amor would also be called by the Tunisian audience, according to Jeune Afrique, based on his role of the same name in a Tunisian television series from 1997, apparently didn't hurt. The film had good audience numbers in the first two months of its season in Tunisia. In 2017, the actor worked again with director Baccar for the film El Jaida in the role of Si Salah. The film is set in a women's prison a few months before Tunisia's independence , where four women have to live together under the authority of the prison guards.

In the comedy Cinécittà from 2009 by director Ibrahim Letaïef, Ben Amor met Claudia Cardinale again , with the actress he was filming for Jesus of Nazareth by Franco Zeffirelli in 1977 . In Cinécittà he annoys Cardinale in the role of the Italian caretaker Toto. For the monumental film Black Gold by Jean-Jacques Annaud , Ben Amor played the role of His Majesty's theologian at the side of Tahar Rahim and Antonio Banderas . For the Algerian-Tunisian film Augustin, fils de ses larmes by Samir Seif from 2015, Ben Amor was seen as Esselipios in one of the leading roles in this parallel story about a young filmmaker who lives in Paris. The young man will return to his native Algeria to make a documentary about the life of Augustine of Hippo . The stories merge with each other during the film. The film was shot in Algeria, Carthage , Rome and Milan and after completion in 2018 it was shown at the Festival International du Film Amazigh de Montréal (FIFAM), among others. The most successful of his leading roles so far was that of Youssef in Tunis by Night by Elyes Baccar . Youssef, a man who has worked for Tunisian national radio for more than 2 decades, will cut off the broadcast on his last broadcast shortly before retirement after a young man set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid . The police briefly arrested him when he was leaving the radio station. After further problems within the family with his wife and daughter, Youssef finally runs away from his family and finds himself in Tunis at night, a city he no longer knows. The role earned Ben Amor the 2017 Best Actor Award at the Cairo International Film Festival. In addition to Hafsia Herzi in the female lead, Ben Amor played her overprotective father-in-law Taïeb in the 2017 drama L'amour des hommes by Mehdi Ben Attia , which tells the story of a young widow and photographer who begins erotic photos after the death of her husband of the men in their neighborhood. At the Cairo International Film Festival in 2018, the Cairo Film Connection (CFC) in collaboration with Arab Cinema Center (ACC) awarded a prize of US $ 50,000 to Majdi Lakhdar's film Before It's Too Late , in which Ben Amor starred as Ali is playing. The film will be shown at the Malmö Arab Film Festival 2019, as part of the platform dedicated to post-production projects.

watch TV

Ben Amor's work for television also includes some television films. In addition to Jesus of Nazareth, he was also in Death lurks behind the rocks (fr: L'arme au bleu) by director Maurice Frydland, a French war film shown by ZDF in October 1986, in the role of El Kakdar alongside Pierre See Arditi . In 1993 Gianni Lepre filmed the mafia story Morte a contratto based on the story This Way for a Shroud by James Hadley Chase . The film is set in Monastir and Rome and showed Ben Amor in the role of a Tunisian police chief at the side of Eleonora Brigliadori . In the British comedy The Vacillations of Poppy Carew , the actor was cast as Mustafa in 1995 on the side of Tara Fitzgerald . The television film Villa Jasmin , co-produced by Arte and shown on German television in 2010, was made by director Boughedir based on the novel Villa Jasmin by Serge Moati with Ben Amor in the role of father Ben Romdane.

In 1988 he played the role of Amir in the British series Emmerdale in 2 episodes, who made the acquaintance of the characters Jackie Merrick and his new wife Kathy Merrick on their honeymoon in Tunisia, initially suspected of being a stalker in this soap opera . Ben Amor achieved great fame in Tunisia through many roles in television series, where he has been present in the majority of the series produced since the 80s. Among the best-known roles are that of Si Chedly in the series El Khottab Al Bab , broadcast during the month of Ramadan in 1996/97 or in the television series Maktoub , broadcast from 2008 to 2014 , where Ben Amor was broadcast in the month of Ramadan in 2014 from the beginning of Season 4 took on the role of Sid Ahmed. In the history series Tej El Hadhra by Omar Bouhoula and Sami Snoussi, which takes place during the time of Ahmad Bey I and tells the story of the Tunisian revolutionary Ali Ben Ghedhahem, Ben Amor played one of the main roles as Ahmad ibn Abi Diyaf, a figure of the Tunisians Story that Bey served as secretary in the capacity of Grand Vizier for 5 consecutive years . In 2019, Anthony Waller's British television series The Trader came about , in which Ben Amor slipped into the role of Samir. Waller has previously directed Death Waiting in the Deep .

Filmography

Movie

• 1971: Et demain
• 1976: The Messiah
• 1980: Two camels on one horse
• 1980: Aziza
• 1986: pirates
• 1988: Frantic
• 1988: Trois personnages en quête d'un théâtre
• 1989: Regard de mouette
• 1989: La barbare (German title: Unrestrained)
• 1990: Halfaouine - time of dreams
• 1990: La nuit de la décennie
• 1990: Mort subite
• 1991: Écrans de sable
• 1992: Deceptions
• 1993: La Guerre du Golfe ... et après? (Documentation)
• 1994: Habiba M'sika (fr: La danse du feu)
• 1997: The Tangier Policeman
• 1997: Tunisiennes
• 2002: L'odyssée
• 2005: Fleur d'oubli
• 2006: Junun (fr: Démences)
• 2009: Cinécittà
• 2010: Baydha (Tabou) - (short film)
• 2011: Black Gold
• 2015: Augustin, fils de ses larmes
• 2017: Tunis Ellil (en: Tunis by Night)
• 2017: L'amour des hommes (en: Of Skin and Men)
• 2017: El Jaida
• 2019: Before it's too late (post production)

watch TV

• 1977: Jesus of Nazareth (TV movie)
• 1981: Death lurks behind the rocks (TV movie)
• 1987: Emmerdale (soap opera, episodes 1221 and 1222)
• 1991: Histoire des Gens (TV series)
• 1992: Confession de la dernière pluie (TV series)
• 1993: Morte a contratto (TV movie)
• 1994: Warda (TV series)
• 1995: The Vacillations of Poppy Carew (German title: Poppy) - (TV movie)
• 1996: El Khottab Al Bab (TV series, seasons 1 and 2)
• 1999: Ichka wa hkeyat (TV series)
• 2008: Villa Jasmin (TV movie)
• 2008: Maktoub (TV series)
• 2008: Sayd Errim (TV series)
• 2009: Aqfas Bila Touyour (TV series)
• 2012: Dar Louzir (TV series)
• 2013: Awled Lebled (TV series)
• 2013: Layem (TV series)
• 2014: Naouret El Hawa (TV series)
• 2014: Maktoub (TV series, season 4)
• 2014: Naouret El Hawa (TV series, season 1)
• 2015: Naouret El Hawa (TV series, season 2)
• 2016: Warda w Kteb
• 2017: Flashback (TV series, season 2)
• 2017: Nsibti Laaziza (TV series, season 7)
• 2018: Tej El Hadhra (history series)
• 2019: The Trader (TV series)

theatre

• 1972: Jha wa chark al hayer
• 1973: Borni wal Atra
• 1974: Jazia Al Hilalia
• 1975: L'héritage
• 1980: Tamthil klem
• 1985: Ismail Pacha
• 1986: Mémoire d'un dinosaure - Rached Manai production
• 1987: Present by procuration
• 1988: Vive Shakespeare - directed by Mohamed Driss and Habib Bel Hedi
• 2003: Ici Tunis - production of Taoufik Jebali
• 2004: Les palestiniens
• 2005: Klem Ellil (in 9 episodes since 1987)
• 2013: Klem Ellil zéro virgule - production Taoufik Jebali
• 2018: El Moncef Bey - production by Raja Farhat

Direction and production

Raouf Ben Amore has been Managing Director of Caméleon Productions , which specializes in events and audiovisual productions, since 1998 .

• 1998: Project “Medina” - production of several pieces
• 2000: Ibtihalats (30-part television series) - producer
• 2001: Cites d'Orient (10-part television series) - co-producer
• 2001: Festival International de Douz (documentary) - co-producer
• 2002: L'oratorio, l'histoire des sciences - producer
• 2004: Carthage Caméléon (play) - producer

Awards

• 1969: Premier prix - Festival International du Théâtre Universitaire Istanbul
• 1990: Officier des Arts et Lettres
• 1997: Prix National des Arts et Lettres
• 1999: Commandeur de l'Ordre du Mérite Culture national
• 2017: Best Actor - Tunis by Night - Cairo International Film Festival
• 2018: Prix Saleh El Kassab - together with Zahira Ben Ammar Journées théâtrales de Carthage (JTC)

Web links

• Raouf Ben Amor in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Raouf Ben Amor website
• Ciné resources: Raouf Ben Amor

Individual evidence

1. ↑ L'acteur tunisien Raouf Ben Amor remporte le prix du meilleur interprète masculin au Festival international du film du Caire (fr). - Huffpost – Maghreb , December 1, 2017, accessed October 2, 2019
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Biography and filmography of Raouf Ben Amor (fr). - Repertoire Artistes Tunisiens , September 23, 2016 and further on Author: Mohamed Bouamoud Raouf Ben Amor, le bureaucrate malgré lui, l'artiste mordu (fr) - Webmanagercenter , April 1, 2009, accessed on October 2, 2019
3. ↑ Author: Hatem Bourial L'hommage à Mohsen Ben Abdallah (fr). - Le Temps – Tunisia , December 20, 2018, accessed October 2, 2019
4. ↑ Author: Fawzia Zouari Raouf Ben Amor: Cet ancien comédien de théâtre tunisien est l'actuel directeur du Festival de Carthage (fr). - Jeune Afrique , September 18, 2006 and further on 34ème édition du festival international du film amateur de Kélibia (fr). - Univers News , July 19, 2019 and more Author: WMC with TAP Clôture Festival Ezzeddine Gannoun pour le Théâtre: “Les Sangs visages” de Imed May remporte le Grand prix (fr). - Web Manager Center , March 30, 2019 and further Palmarès JTC 2018: la Tunisie remporte les Prix de la meilleure œuvre et de la mise en scène (fr). - RadioMed , December 17, 2018, accessed October 2, 2019
5. ↑ Habib Bel Hedi Crée Cinémafricart (fr). - Cinema Tunisien , September 24, 2019 and also Mémoires d'un dinosaur (fr). - Mon Massir , April 4, 2008, accessed October 3, 2019
6. ↑ Une odyssée, dans le sillage d'un cinéma moderne (fr). - Babnet , July 12, 2013 and beyond Unrestrained. - In: Lexicon of International Films . Two thousand and one and further to this homage to Mohamed Salah El Jebri (fr). - Leaders – Tunisie , June 22, 2006, accessed October 3, 2019
7. ↑ Author: Fawzia Zouari Quand l'opium fait un tabac (fr). - In: Jeune Afrique , March 21, 2006, accessed October 3, 2019
8. ↑ L'enfant de ses larmes / Saint d'Augustin (fr). - CTV and more about it Author: Loanne Jeunet Festival du film amazigh à Montréal (fr). - Le Petit Journal Montreal , September 24, 2018 and further Author: Jordan Mintzer 'Of Skin and Men' (L'Amour des hommes): Film Review (en). - The Hollywood Reporter , May 3, 2018 and onwards Cairo Film Connection announces awards. - Daily News Egypt December 2, 2018 and also author: Di avec TAP Trois projets de films tunisiens retenus au Forum du marché du MAFF 2019 (fr). - Directinfo , September 6, 2019, accessed October 3, 2019
9. ↑ Death lurks behind the rocks. - Film service and further Eleonora Brigliadori in una Storia di Mafia (it). - La Repubblica archive , January 26, 1993 and further on Villa Jasmin. - ARD , accessed on October 4, 2019
10. ↑ Amir - Raouf Ben Amor (en). - Emmerdale on Fandom and on Raouf Ben Amor: Je préfère Maktoub et ce qu'a présenté Lamine Nahdi est dépassé (fr). - MosaïqueFM , July 3, 2014 and further Tej El Hadhera, la révolte de Ali Ben Ghedhahem racontée (fr). - Web Manager Center , April 5, 2018, accessed October 4, 2019
11. ↑ Caméléon productions (fr). - TunisieIndex , accessed October 4, 2019