Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces

Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces centres on Noura, a twelve-year-old boy in the Halfaouine quarter of old Tunis, caught between childhood and adulthood. Because he still looks young, he continues to accompany his mother to the women's baths, but his growing awareness of the women around him makes the arrangement increasingly awkward, and he is no longer included in the men's gatherings. His closest companion is Salih, a troublemaker who is treated as a political outcast in the neighbourhood. Around Noura and his family, the film follows the daily life of the quarter's residents.

The film was directed by Férid Boughedir, who wrote the screenplay with Nouri Bouzid and Maryse León García. It followed his 1987 documentary Arab Camera, and was made as a co-production between Tunisia, France and Italy. Selim Boughedir plays Noura, with Rabia Ben Abdallah as his mother Jamila, Mustafa Adouani as his father Si Azzouz, Mohamed Driss as Salih and Hélène Catzaras as Latifa. Running just under an hour and forty minutes, it blends comedy and drama.

On IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.7 from roughly 2,300 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.4 from a much smaller base of about 60 votes. The larger and more settled sample on IMDb suggests a modest but enduring level of interest in the film.