Set in 1960s Tunisia, this film focuses on Alia, who visits the palace where her mother, Khedija, was once employed. The journey triggers unpleasant recollections about the way her mother was treated by male members of the privileged class. In a series of flashbacks, Alia looks back on her adolescent self and begins to piece together key details about her murky family history.

Festivals & Awards:

Camera d'Or - Cannes Film Festival 1994

FIPRESCI Prize - Toronto International Film Festival 1994

Golden Tanit - Carthage Film Festival 1994

Filmmaker's bio:

Moufida Tlatli was born in Tunisia in 1947. After completing her studies in Paris, she worked as a script editor and production manager for French television. Tlatli returned to Tunisia in 1972 and made a name for herself as a film editor working with renowned Arab directors. She then began making her own films. Her directorial debut, the feature film The Silences of the Palace, received numerous international film awards, including the Camera d’Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. Tlatli continued both her feature filmmaking and her advocacy for the continued importance of an emerging feminist perspective within the Arab world.