Thala My Love

Tunisia
Producer: Mohamed Ali Ben Hamra
Production Company: Polimovie International Pictures

Project Logline:

Beginning of January 2011, during the Tunisian revolution, Mohamed, a popular union leader who is a political prisoner, manages to escape from jail and returns to his native town Thala. He finds it in the midst of a revolt. He has only one goal: to find his fiancée Hourya and flee the country through the borders to Algeria. Mohamed is helped in his flight by Belgacem a coalman and former agent of the regime who is hoping to be redeemed. He hides Mohamed in his garage. On the night of January 9th, Mohamed witnesses yet another slaughter. As he carries the dead body of a young man to hospital, a young protestor films him on his cell phone and the video is uploaded on Facebook. Meanwhile, we discover Hourya who lives with her husband, Adel, a quiet man who has accepted her past but forbids her of taking part in any political activity. Hourya, helped by her friend Rim, is committed to the struggle against Ben Ali in Kasserine. When she finishes her work in a textile factory, she risks her life distributing tracts in the streets crowded with policemen and agents of the regime. Hourya was raped in prison before Mohamed’s eyes after their arrest. She believes that Mohamed has died under torture and to save her own life, she accepted to get married to Adel whom she does not love.

Mehdi Hmili was born in Tunis and graduated from the Paris Film School. Whilst in France, he directed his trilogy in black and white about love and exile “X-Moment” 2009, “Li-La” (2011), and “The Night Of Badr” (2012). He is currently working on his first feature film Thala Mon Amour, a drama that takes place in the village of Thala during the Tunisian Revolution. Mehdi Hmili is also a popular poet in Tunisia known for his poems against the regime of Ben Ali. He lives between Tunis, Paris and Cairo.