"Though clearly a political statement, Tlatli's subtle film never loses its capacity to tell its quietly moving story in a way which illustrates, with seemingly great accuracy, the world that even now traps so many Arab women." - THE GUARDIAN

THE PLOT

Alia, 25, is fed up with singing at weddings.

After the humiliation of an umpteenth contract as a professional singer she expresses her disappointment with her life and her unspoken resentment for the fact that Lotfi, who has lived with her for ten years, has never wanted to marry her and refuses to recognize the child she is carrying. The announcement of the death of Prince Sid Ali, a former bey, suddenly plunges her back into the past.

On the occasion of the funeral she revisits the palace where she spent her childhood and adolescence, and where she was born of a servant mother and a father unknown... who could have been the Prince.

A WOMAN DIRECTOR

Perhaps because it was made by a woman, and an Arab one at that, Silences of the Palace never received due recognition. So don't make the mistake of missing this stunningly acted, beautifully shot and deliciously scored masterpeice. 

Director Moufida Tlatli was raised in Tunisia and graduated film school as an editor, working on every major Arabic film of the eighties. 

Silences of the Palace, her first film as Director (and indeed the first major Arabic film to be directed by a woman), concerns the lives of women living as concubines in the King's palace at the end of the French colonial rule in Tunisia. "The colonized of the colonised" as Tlatli describes them.

A mesmerising treat for the eyes, ears and brain.

AWARDS, FESTIVALS

Wins

Special mention from the Camera D'Or Jury - Cannes Film Festival 1994

Gold Prize - Carthage Film Festival 1994

Best feature film - Milan African Film Festival 1995

Gold Prize - Istanbul International Film Festival - 1994