When Mohamed Ben Attia’s debut feature Hedi (2016) competed for the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival, it announced the arrival of a major new voice in Tunisian cinema. The film won the Best First Feature award and the Silver Bear for Best Actor for leading man Majd Mastoura, attesting to the filmmaker’s striking gift for directing his performers.

Born in Tunis in 1976, Ben Attia began his cinematic education in France, before returning home to finish his studies. With five short films to his name, he caught the attention of the Dardenne brothers, who would go on to serve as co-producers on both of his features to date. Rich in cultural specificity, the two films illuminate the emotional and socioeconomic landscapes of post-revolution Tunisia. Hedi and Dear Son (2018) are acute psychological studies in liberation, both from familial expectation and cultural tradition. In the former—a heart-wrenching tale of will-they-won’t-they romantic intrigue—a young man bristles at the marriage arrangements made by his parents, finding love with a free-spirited woman who works at a holiday resort. In Dear Son, a father (magnificently played by Mohamed Dhrif) suffers an earth-shattering loss, and sets out to find his missing son. Taken together, the two films speak to the essential unknowability of those we hold closest, to the private faces and hidden lives that simmer below the surface, awaiting their moment to break free.

Debora Moritz