BEHIND THE MOUNTAINS  

Mohamed Ben Attia   
Tunisia/ Belgium/ France/ Saudi Arabia/ Qatar 2023 | Original Version with English Subtitles| 98 min

THU 14 NOV
20:30 ARSENAL

After an outbreak of violence in his office, young family man Rafik ends up in prison for four years. Back in freedom, he wants to take his young son Yassine to the mountains to show him that he can fly. When his wife refuses, he kidnaps Yassine without further ado. On the run, father and son become closer and finally end up in a remote middle-class country house, accompanied by a shepherd… Mohamed Ben Attia’s supernatural drama, which caused a sensation at this year’s Venice International Film Festival, is a celebration of faith in the ability of the human spirit to explore and overcome the boundaries of social realities. 

MOHAMED BEN ATTIA (*1976 in Tunis) studied audiovisual communication at the University of Valenciennes in France after graduating from the Institut de Hautes Etudes Commerciales (IHEC) in Tunis in 1998.  He has directed five short films: ROMANTISME, DEUX COMPRIMÉS MATIN ET SOIR (2004), KIF LOKHRIN (silver prize at FESPACO 2006), MOUJA (2008), LOI 76 (2011) and SELMA (2013), which was selected in the international competition of the Clermont Ferrand Film Festival 2014 and won several prizes at various festivals.

His feature film debut HEDIS HOCHZEIT won the Best First Feature Award and the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 2016 Berlinale. BEHIND THE MOUNTAINS is his third feature film.