MAGIC BOX, THE

When a European television network commissions 40-something Tunisian filmmaker Raouf to make a film about his childhood relationship with cinema, it sparks an investigation into his past as well as his present situation. Raouf is married to Lou, a French woman, and the father of two children. Their marriage, once a love match, suffers increasingly from cross-cultural tensions. Lou, unhappy with life in Tunisia, drinks too much and indulges in risqu? behavior. We learn that Raouf's youth in the small town of Kairouan was marked by a culture clash of a different sort between the strict Islamic moralism of his father and the daringly Western attitudes of his dashing uncle Mansour, a traveling projectionist. Spiced through with delectable North African melodies, this glowingly shot memory piece provides a window on the complexities of life in the Maghreb. The film cuts between past and present, enhanced by the extremely beautiful camerawork of Greek cinematographer Yorgos Arvanitis. The title refers to a vintage hand-held “movie” viewer given to Raouf as a gift from his uncle on the day of his circumcision. Compared by some critics to CINEMA PARADISO, THE MAGIC BOX was Tunisia's submission to the Academy for Best Foreign Film. (In Arabic and French with English subtitles)