BAB' AZIZ

A blind dervish and his granddaughter are travelling through the desert. Bab’Aziz and little Ishtar are looking for a great gathering of dervishes that takes place only once every thirty years – where, no one knows exactly, and faith is their only guide. For days the two wander through an empty, vast landscape. Along the way they meet strangers, and each of them carries a story of their own: a search, a loss, a path not yet walked to its end. The Tunisian director Nacer Khemir shot “Bab’Aziz” in 2005 in the desert of his home country.

The narrative does not proceed in a straight line but interweaves the travellers’ stories; the film is Khemir’s meditation on Sufism, translated into images of sand and light. After its premiere in Dubai it screened in Locarno, among other places, and won awards at the Fajr Festival in Tehran and the Muscat Film Festival in Oman. “Bab’Aziz” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2006.

Shown at the 2006 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2006 · Film Archive