Nacer Khemir

Director

Biography

Through cinema, painting and sculpture, not to mention calligraphy, writing and story telling, Nacer Khemir has thrown bridges between shores, North and South, Occident and Orient. His literary work comprises a dozen publications and his production is still growing. Since he directed “The Story of the Land of God”, which was broadcasted on the French second channel in 1975, he has directed many other feature films. In 1984, he won the first award at the Film Festival of the Three Continents, in Nantes, France for his movie “The Wanderers of the Desert”. He also won the “First Film Award” at the Festival of Carthage JCC, Tunisia, and the Golden Palm leaf at the Film Festival of Valencia, Spain. and the Prize of the International Critic’s award at the Mostra di Venezia. In 2017 the film is digitalized by the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique and was selected as one of the world classic films in the Mostra de Venizia 2017 in the section Venezia Classici. In 1991, his movie “The Dove’s Lost Necklace” won the Jury’s Special Award at the Locarno Film Festival, Italy and the First Award at the Belfort Fovie Festival, France as well the Jury’s Special Award at the Festival of French-Speaking Films at St-Martin. In 1991, he directed, for the French third channel, “In Search of the Arabian Nights”. In 2005, he directed “Bab Aziz, The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul”. The film won the Golden Dagger in Muscat Film Festival. In 2007, Nacer Khemir participated, but this time in front of the camera, in the film of the Swiss director Bruno Moll . “Voyage à Tunis” , about the journey of Paul Klee to Tunisia in 1914 and its influence on his painting. In 2008 Nacer Khemir directed “The Alphabet of My Mother” a short digital film of 30 minutes produced by JeonJu International Film Festival (South Korea) which was selected in Locarno and Melbourne film festivals. In 2010 he produced and directed En Passant, avec André Miquel, (André Miquel,En Encounter with the Arabic Language). In 2011 he co-produced and directed Shéhérazade, ou la Parole Contre la Mort, (Sheherazade,Words Against Death). In 2012 he produced and directed Looking for Muhyiddin. In 2013 he produced and directed Yasmina et les 60 Noms de l'Amour , (Yasmina and The 60 Names of Love). In 2014 he wrote produced and directed Par où Commence? (Where to Start?) that won the prize of Best Tunisian Film in the Festival of the Tunisian Directors 2015. In 2016 he wrote, produced and directed a short film, Press Conference for the 50th anniversary of JCC Carthage Film Festival, Tunisia. In 2017, he wrote, produced and directed a long feature film Whispering Sands, which is in the official selection of Dubai International Film Festival 2017, and the official selection of La Mostra de Valencia 2018 and received the Best Film Award at the International Film Festival of New Delhi. In 2020, he produced and directed Loving Wallada, a feature docu-fiction which was invited to the Maghreb des Films in France and to the Mostra de Valencia in Spain. Nacer Khemir's films are a constent search in the myths in order to interrogate the future. In 2019 he published a book, The Book of the Margins, about his cinematographic experience, and has just finished writing a book called Love According to Nacer Khemir, now in the process of publishing and will be available end 2020.

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