Madame Bahja by Walid Tayaa
Tunisia
14 min | 2006
The online presentation of films from „Arab Shorts 2009” on this site ended by 31 December 2011.
A sharp, incisive glance on old age and solitude. There is a sense of repartee and a capacity to sink into the drama by humour. Madam Bahja is ugly, Madam Bahja is old, Madam Bahja is sick – and nevertheless she collides into the big despair of the nurse, frivolous and superficial, who has only a single concern: her phone conversation with a friend. Two antipodal characters; two images of Tunisia for a comedy that does not compromise. The genre is very rare in Tunisian cinema. Through his first professional film, Walid Tayaa shows that it is possible to laugh intelligently.
About the Filmmaker
After studying sociology, Walid Tayaa began his cinema studies. He joined the FTCA at a very young age and his amateur short movies participated in international independent festivals. He has worked as first assistant filmmaker on several productions. In 2006, his first short professional movie Madame Bahja won him a selection in the Tous les Cinémas du Monde category at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. He took part in several training programmes and workshops in Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Czech Republic, Germany and finally France, where he enrolled in La Fémis school in 2007. Currently he is working in post-production on his documentary Moi, El Essawi, about the Sufi brotherhood of Issawiyya in Tunis, and has signed his second short film Vivre and Prestige. He is also writing his first full-length feature film, Fataria, developed in a script-writing workshop at La Fémis school.
After studying sociology, Walid Tayaa began his cinema studies. He joined the FTCA at a very young age and his amateur short movies participated in international independent festivals. He has worked as first assistant filmmaker on several productions. In 2006, his first short professional movie Madame Bahja won him a selection in the Tous les Cinémas du Monde category at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. He took part in several training programmes and workshops in Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Czech Republic, Germany and finally France, where he enrolled in La Fémis school in 2007. Currently he is working in post-production on his documentary Moi, El Essawi, about the Sufi brotherhood of Issawiyya in Tunis, and has signed his second short film Vivre and Prestige. He is also writing his first full-length feature film, Fataria, developed in a script-writing workshop at La Fémis school.
