ARABIAN SIGHTS
US Premiere

Aicha

Aïcha

MEHDI M. BARSAOUI
Tunisia, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, 2024
123 minutes, Color

In parched southern Tunisia, Aya (Fatma Sfar) still lives with her parents, whose debts she is forced to pay with a dead-end hotel job. Then a miracle happens: she dies. That is, she is assumed to have died in a fiery crash that kills her coworkers. Aya seizes the chance to escape to Tunis and a fresh start with a new identity. But freedom, and ultimately identity, prove elusive. Even in a city where young people can go clubbing into the night, where women hold the highest offices—judge, police chief—misogyny and corruption go hand in hand. After a fracas at a nightclub, Aya becomes a pawn in a police coverup. Director Mehdi M. Barsaoui, speaking for "Tunisian youth whose dreams are too often denied," has presented us with "a paradox where true freedom for the protagonist can only be attained through her death."—Judy Bloch

In Arabic with English subtitles