Namibian Premiere: „Satin Rouge“ By Raja Amari (Tunisia), on Tuesday, 22. May 2012 (DATE CHANGED!), 18.30h, FNCC

Due to technical problems last Wednesday, the screening has been postponed! On Tuesday, 22 May 2012 at 18.30h AfricAvenir & Franco Namibian Cultural Centre present the Namibian premiere of the Tunesian film "Satin Rouge" by Director-Screenwriter Raja Amari (Tunisia 2002 | 91min). Lilia is a still-attractive widow with a teenage daughter, Salma. Lilia lives a rather sad existence, obsessively cleaning her house, watching television, and eating alone while Salma hangs out with friends. When Lilia goes to check out the place where Salma goes to dancing class she suspects – rightly – that her daughter is involved with a musician. But it’s Lilia whose life is changed by her contacts with a world she knows nothing about – a world of nightclubs where belly dancers perform. "Tunisian-born writer-director Raja Amari (…) plays out Lilia’s personal reawakening slowly, with a canny balance of made-for-export feminist flair (…)" (Lisa Schwarbaum, Entertainment weekly).

Date: 22. May 2012, Time: 18h30
Venue: FNCC, 118 Robert Mugabe Avenue
Entrance: Free

AfricAvenir and the FNCC thank the Institut Francaise for making this event possible. 
 
About the film
“Satin Rouge” the debut feature of Tunisian filmmaker Raja Amari, has received — and will continue to receive — attention because it’s a movie set in a Northern African country that deals directly with the sexual experiences of a middle-aged woman. nThe plot of “Satin Rouge” is rather simple: Lilia is a widow who wants to live life again. Her teenage daughter is getting interested in boys and integrating more western ways into her lifestyle. One night, while trying to follow her daughter’s activities into the night, Lilia inadvertently discovers a cabaret. She enters to find women belly dancing in skimpy outfits, reacting both horrified and intrigued at the same time. Her desire to find her own individuality and break the moralistic mold of her upbringing has her frequenting the cabaret nightly. The other dancers befriend her, and before she knows it, she’s belly-button deep in the club scene herself. As the plot thickens and romances develop, Lilia and her daughter both find themselves learning more about life than either of them bargained for. 

About the Director
Raja Amari was born in 1971, in Tunis, Tunisia. She graduated from La Fémis (Paris). Her “Satin Rouge“ (2002) won the Public Prize for the Best African Film at the Montréal World Film Festival, and the New Director’s Showcase Award at the Seattle International Film Festival.