Nacer Khemir

Nacer Khemir Arabic ناصر خمير born in 1948 in Korba Tunisia is a Tunisian writer artist storyteller and filmmaker Biography From an early age Khemir was fascinated by classical Arabic culture and by storytelling He has cited the One Thousand and One Nights as a particular influence saying I am a child of these stories However in spite of this interest and a similar lasting passion for film Khemir initially planned a career as a painter and sculptor a path he has throughout his life continued to pursue his art has been exhibited at among other institutions the Centre Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art in Paris In 1966 at the age of eighteen he was awarded a UNESCO fellowship to study film in Paris In 1975 he completed his first film LHistoire du pays du Bon Dieu The History of Gods Country shot in his hometown of Korba and featuring the desert setting and spiritual overtones that would figure prominently in his later work Released in 1984 his first feature film Les baliseurs du désert Wanderers of the Desert garnered international acclaim The film which tells the story of a schoolteachers arrival in a strange and haunting desert town was awarded the Grand Prix at the Festival des Trois Continents Khemirs second feature Le collier perdu de la colombe The Doves Lost Necklace was released in 1991 The dialogue of the film is in Classical Arabic4 Its narrative reminiscent of a fairy tale concerns a young calligrapher in AlAndalus who embarks on a quest to find the missing fragments of a manuscript that he believes will reveal to him the secrets of love Le collier perdu de la colombe was the recipient of several awards including a Special Jury Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival Les baliseurs du désert and Le collier perdu de la colombe are considered to form the first two parts of a Desert Trilogy The third part BabAziz le prince qui contemplait son âme BabAziz The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul was released in 2005 BabAziz tells the story of an elderly dervish who accompanied by his young granddaughter encounters several mysterious strangers as he journeys to a large and joyful Sufi gathering in the desert Khemir has described BabAziz as a highly political film and deliberately so saying I would explain it with this allegory if you are walking alongside your father and he suddenly falls down his face in the mud what would you do You would help him stand up and wipe his face with your shirt My fathers face stands for Islam and I tried to wipe Islams face clean with my movie by showing an open tolerant and friendly Islamic culture full of love and wisdom an Islam that is different from the one depicted by the media in the aftermath of 911 The film was coproduced by eight countries including Germany France Switzerland and Iran It was the recipient of a Golden Dagger at the Muscat Film Festival In addition to his work as an artist and filmmaker Khemir has performed as a storyteller at the Théâtre national de Chaillot and has produced work for Swiss French and Tunisian television He is the author of a number of books including several for children