Under the Fig Trees by Erige Sehiri is the opening film of the 32nd edition of the African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival. 

The film will be screened in the presence of the director in occasion of the Festival’s Opening Night on Sunday 19 March 2023 at 6pm, held for the first time in a new prestigious location: il Fondazione Prada’s Cinema, one of the most important hubs of Milan’s cultural scene which is investing on the safeguarding of cinema’s essential role within the city’s cultural and social fabric.

How to attend

You can attend the inaugural screening of FESCAAAL32 at the Cinema of Fondazione Prada by purchasing a single ticket for 6 euros, either directly at the cinema ticket office before the screening or by pre-purchasing it online at ticketing.fondazioneprada.org.

Admission to the Opening Ceremony is included in the Premium Zebra pAAAss subscription with Opening Ceremony.

Under the Fig Trees by Erige Sehiri

Under the Fig Trees has revealed a new talent in international cinema and in particular in contemporary Arab cinema. The producer and documentary filmmaker Erige Sehiri – this film marks her first fiction feature – gives voice to the dreams, the wishes and the beauty of the details of everyday life in an orchard that becomes the theatre of emotions, but also a microcosm where power dynamics, the abuses of seasonal work and the contradictions of Tunisian society unfold.

This film was Tunisia’s Oscar Entry in 2023 and will be distributed in Italy by Trent Film.  

Under the Fig Trees
by Erige Sehiri (Tunisia / France/ Germany /Switzerland / Qatar, 2022, 90’) 

At the end of the summer, in an orchard in north-west Tunisia, a group of women are harvesting figs. Watched by the male workers, both young and elderly, the women flirt, make fun of themselves, talk and quarrel. Over the course of one day, the orchard becomes the theatre of emotions but also a microcosm where the dynamics of power, abuse of seasonal work and the contradictions of Tunisian society are triggered off.