EYE FOR AN EYE

LES ENFANTS ROUGES

2024 / 100 min / color

The film is based on a true story. Tunisian director Lotfi Achour takes us back to the year 2015, to the area around Mount Mghila in the north-west of his country. It’s a poor, isolated region whose inhabitants are all but invisible to the government, and forced to be totally self-reliant. Despite warnings from the adults, two teenagers decide to cross a mountainous area controlled by jihadists, and they’re quickly captured and accused of spying. This is the last moment 13-year-old Achraf remembers before he regains consciousness and sees the mutilated body of his cousin in front of him. Achraf is sent home by his attackers with a macabre package intended as a warning to the local community. The film, which won the audience award at the Vancouver Film Festival, is a shocking story about growing up in the midst of brutal violence that often claims children as its victims. Achour mixes realism with dreamlike scenes, depicting Achraf’s imagination and his attempts to cope with the traumatic experience. The poetic, political and social dimensions of the story all flow together. The narrative takes place against the backdrop of an extraordinary landscape, captured through the lens of outstanding Polish cinematographer Wojciech Staroń.

• Vancouver IFF – Audience Award

• Red Sea IFF 2024 – Golden Yusr for best film and the prize for best director

• Warsaw FF – Special Mention