Director

Nouri Bouzid

Cast list

Mustapha Adouani as Ameur

Yacoub Bchiri as Levy

Wasilla Chaouki as Sejra

Mohammed Dhrif as Azaiez

Khaled Ksouri as Farfat

Imed Maalal as Hachemi

Sonia Mansour as Amina

Mouna Noureddine as Nefissa

Credits

Written by Nouri Bouzid

Edited by Mika Ben Miled

Cinematography by Youssef Ben Youssef

Synopsis

Hachemi, a young bridegroom, prepares for his wedding while painful memories of the past haunt him. His best friend, Farfat, is the topic of local gossip as his manhood is called into question. This gossip brings up painful memories for Hachemi, because unknown to anyone else in the community, the two friends were molested by the local carpenter, Ameur. While Farfat is banished from his home, the secret lies between the two friends and threatens to uproot Hachemi’s upcoming wedding and their lives in this painful drama that violently explores homosexuality and child abuse.

Reviews

Dennis Grunes, Man of Ashes (Nouri Bouzid, 1986) (Blog)

Martin Stollery, Nouri Bouzid (Online Journal)

Gana, Nouri. "Bourguiba's Sons: Melancholy Manhood in Modern Tunisian Cinema." The Journal of North African Studies 15.1 (2010): 105-126. Web.

Lang, Robert and M.B. Moussa. "Choosing to Be 'Not a Man': Masculine Anxiety in Nouri Bouzid's Rih Essed/Man of Ashes." Masculinity: Bodies, Movies, Culture (2001): 81-94. Print.

Stollery, Martin. "Masculinities, Generations, and Cultural Transformation in Contemporary Tunisian Cinema." Screen 42.1 (2001): 49-63