Hedi

25-year-old Hedi struggles with balancing passion and duty in this film from Tunisia. Hedi sells cars, but business is slow because of the country’s unstable economy and Hedi’s lack of interest. Hedi feels depressed, even though he is about to get married with the beautiful Khadija in a few weeks. Maybe it is because of his mother, who has planned their lives down to every little detail, with a love nest for them to live in her own house - or maybe because Hedi never really has spoken to Khadija or kissed her. But then, a few days before the wedding, Hedi meets the spirited Rim at a hotel where she works as a dancer and activity planner for tourists, and suddenly something inside Hedi awakens. Does he dare to choose Rim over Khadija and the family?

Hedi was awarded two Silver Bear awards during the International Film Festival in Berlin this year. Majd Mastoura won the prize for best leading actor and director Mohamed Ben Attia won for best debut. The film is produced in cooperation with the Dardenne brothers and has all of the qualities they charish in their productions; an autentic and riveting film with a deep humanistic philosphy of man.

Mohamed Ben Attia (f. 1976) is born in Tunisia and had only made the short film Romantisme (2004) before his feature debut, Hedi, premiered in 2016. Hedi was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Best First Feature Award. Majd Mastoura, playing the main character, won the Silver Bear for Best Actor.

This film is distributed by Arthaus.