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WE KNEW HOW BEAUTIFUL THEY WERE, THESE ISLANDS

Younes Ben Slimane
Tunisia, France, 2022
20 min.

In the middle of Zarzis’ migrant cemetery in South Tunisia, a solitary stranger performs his nocturnal ritual, delicately digging the graves and watching over the resting souls. As night falls, he unveils their objects – a collection of objects that bear witness to their scars and stories.

A deserted cemetery, as if extracted out of nowhere. What does what we don’t take into the afterlife say about us? We knew how beautiful they were, these islands is a collection of enigmatic portraits, suggested only by the objects that may have belonged to the migrants buried in this cemetery. In Younes Ben Slimane’s carefully guided chiaroscuro the object becomes the artefact, as if it were shining in the light of a museum case where labels are completely missing. The viewer can project and understand only what he or she is prepared to understand — trivial objects are mixed together with uncertain, amorphous, yet organic materials. The film’s gravedigger is more of an archaeologist, yet a ritualistic one, digging not to explore — nor to steal the objects — but to mourn and make sense of the traces human existence leaves behind. (Dora Leu)

Data proiecție și locație

Friday, 29th of September | 18:00

Cinemateca Eforie, Strada Eforie 2
Cumpără bilet

Premii și festivaluri

Younes Ben Slimane

Younes Ben Slimane is a tunisian artist and filmmaker. Working through film, video, photography, drawing and installation, he establishes a permanent dialogue between architecture and visual arts, where different mediums coexist and reflect each other’s potentialities and limitations. Younes completed post-graduates studies at Le Fresnoy. His work has been exhibited at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles, the Institut du monde arabe in Paris, at the Mucem in Marseille, at the Selma Feriani Gallery in Sidi Bou Saïd, and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Skopje. His films have been selected in international festivals such as Locarno Film Festival and CPH:DOX. He has received the Tanit d’or at the Carthage Film Festival and the Studio Collector Prize (FR).

  • Technical sheet
  • Production and distribution
  • SCRIPT: Younes Ben Slimane
  • WITH: Kabir SK, Plam’s Mwanza, David Max Sembula
  • CINEMATOGRAPHY: Younes Ben Slimane
  • EDITING: Younes Ben Slimane
  • SOUND: Tima Savchenko
  • SOUND EDITING: Médéric Corroyer
  • SOUND MIXING: Geoffrey Durcak
  • MUSIC: Ben Russell
  • PRODUCED BY: Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains, Inside productions Tunisie

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WE KNEW HOW BEAUTIFUL THEY WERE, THESE ISLANDS

Younes Ben Slimane | Duration 20 min.

In the middle of Zarzis' migrant cemetery in South Tunisia, a solitary stranger performs his nocturnal ritual, delicately digging the graves and watching over the resting souls. As night falls, he unveils their objects - a collection of objects that bear witness to their scars and stories.

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