Founded in Tunis in 1966 at the instigation of the critic Tahar Cheriaa, the Carthage Film Festival is the oldest film festival in Africa and the Arab world still running today. Dedicated to African and Arab cinema, it awards a Golden Tanit, its top prize, every year.
How did the JCC come into being in 1966?
In 1966, the first Golden Tanit went to Black Girl, by the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène.
The Carthage Film Festival was born in Tunis in 1966, created by the Tunisian critic and film lover Tahar Cheriaa.
From the outset, the festival declared its mission: a showcase for the cinemas of the Global South, African and Arab alike. With that very first Tunis edition, Tahar Cheriaa made it the starting point of an institution built to give them a stage of their own.
Why do the JCC hold a special place in Africa and the Arab world?
The Carthage Film Festival (JCC) stands out first for its sheer longevity: it is the oldest film festival in Africa and the Arab world still running today. That continuity, rare in the world of festivals, gives it a weight all its own: year after year, it has built up a shared memory of African and Arab cinema, in a field where so many cultural events spring up only to vanish.
That longevity also comes down to a deliberate choice. From the very beginning, the JCC gave priority to the cinemas of Africa and the Arab world, offering them a stage that few other international events provided at the time. Held in Tunis every autumn, the festival turned the city into a crossroads for these film industries.
What does the Golden Tanit reward?
The Golden Tanit is the Carthage Film Festival’s top prize. Out of all the works in competition, it singles out the one the jury judges most accomplished. Its place at the summit of the awards says a great deal about the festival’s ambition: to celebrate a cinema written from within Africa and the Arab world, rather than one merely viewed from the outside.
In 1966, the first Golden Tanit went to Black Girl, by the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène. By crowning an African work at that very first edition, the JCC affirmed a conviction: the continent had a filmmaker’s voice that deserved to be heard.
How has the festival’s rhythm changed over time?
For many years, the Carthage Film Festival followed a biennial rhythm, held in even-numbered years. That schedule alternated with two other events: FESPACO in Ouagadougou, so as not to clash with African cinema’s calendar, and the Carthage Theatre Days, which at the time shared the same city and a tight schedule.
In 2014, that arrangement shifted to an annual format. The Carthage Film Festival has been held every year since, a change made at the same time as the Carthage Theatre Days, which also became annual. The two Carthage events thus left behind together the biennial rhythm that had long bound them.
Born in Tunis out of a conviction, that African and Arab cinema deserved a stage of its own, the Carthage Film Festival has built, edition after edition, a continuity that few cultural events can claim. From the first Golden Tanit to the alternating schedule shared with FESPACO, its history keeps telling the same story in different forms: year after year, this festival remains a crossroads where Africa and the Arab world tell their own stories to each other before showing them to the rest of the world.
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