Tunisian Minister of Culture Mourad Sakli opened the 25th edition of the Carthage Film Festival (JCC) on Saturday.
For the first time since its creation, the event takes place outside Carthage city with six cities been selected for screenings: Kairouan, Jendouba, Thala, Gafsa, Medenine and Menzel Bourguiba.
The event, which lasts until December 6, features up to 220 movies from 42 Arab and African countries.
In his address to the opening ceremony, Sakli welcomed the participants and guest, voicing hope for the success of the event.
He said that Tunisia will continue to be a beacon of culture and arts, particularly cinema.
Director of the festival Dora Bouchoucha said in a statement to KUNA the Feature Competition, headed by American director Danny Glover, will start with the screening of Timbuktu by the Mauritanian director Abderrahman Sissako.
"In this edition youth steal the limelight since; we have launched a section called 'tarshiqat' which will focus on movies directed by young directors for the first time," Bouchoucha said.
Fifteen Arab and African films are bidding for the three top awards of the festival; these include two Algerian films (Lyes Salem's The Man from Oran and Narimane Mari's Loubia Hamra), an Egyptian film - "Decor" directed by Ahmad Abdullah, a Jordanian film - "Naji Abu Nowar's Theeb," a Lebanese one - Ghassan Salhab's "The Valley," a Moroccan film - Hicham Lasri's "They Are the Dogs," a Palestinian one - Hany Abu Assad's "Omar," a Syrian film - Samer Nadjari and Dominique Chila's "Arwad," and a Tunisian one - Jilani Saadi's "Bidoun 2," she added.