In 1975, Baccar made 'Fatma 75', the first feature film directed by a Tunisian woman.
Aswan International Women Film Festival will honour Tunisian director, producer and politician Selma Baccar at its seventh edition, which will take place from March 5-10, 2023, in Aswan.
The AIWFF will honour Baccar for her tremendous influence in the cinematic field. She is considered the first woman to make a feature-length film in Tunis. Baccar is known for creating manifestos through her films, centred around women’s rights in Tunisia.
At the age of 21, Baccar began to create short films in 1966, along with other women at the Hammam-Lif amateur film club. Trained within the framework of the Tunisian Federation of Amateur Filmmakers, which produced several well-known filmmakers, Selma Baccar improved her technical and theoretical knowledge at the Institut de formation cinématographique in Paris.
The Awakening was her first short film, made in the context of the Federation of Amateur Filmmakers in 1968.
Baccar directed her first full-length feature film in 1975 titled Fatma 75, this film is considered to be a “pioneer film” in Tunisia. This was the first full-length feature film directed by a woman. Fatma 75, “a feminist essay film about women’s roles in Tunisia.” The film uses a didactic style film that addresses feminism in Tunisia.
Baccar’s activism for Tunisian women’s rights lead her to an active political career; where she became a member of the Al Massar political party. In October 2011, Baccar was elected as a member to the Constituent Assembly In 2014, Baccar became the president of the parliamentary group of Democrats in Tunisia.
Dr Azza Kamel, Vice Chairman of the Aswan International Women Film Festival Board of Trustees, said that Selma Baccar was a great filmmaker not only in Tunisian cinema, but also in Arab cinema, as her films depicted the concerns of Tunisian women in different historical eras, as well as being the first Tunisian director to produce a feature film.
Kamel stressed that the festival decided to honour Baccar as it seeks to honour creative women who have contributed to the portrayal of women’s issues from all over the world.
Kamel pointed out that Baccar’s struggle for women’s issues wasn’t limited to the cinema screen, as a director or as a producer, but she was strongly present in the Tunisian political scene, as a member of the National Constituent Assembly. Honouring Baccar is a tribute to Tunisian cinema, which in recent years has achieved great success at the international level by producing acclaimed films that support women.
The seventh edition of AIWFF will also honour veteran Egyptian actress Nabila Ebeid, acclaimed TV presenter Dorria Sharaf Eldin and Dutch director, screenwriter and producer Mijke De Jong.
