Ala Al-Ardha

For Tunisians, 1978 marks the national football team’s epic trip to Argentina which created a myth marking the director’s childhood along with an intriguing question: why didn’t his mother watch the football with them? And what if 1978 was more than a football story? Sami Tlili skilfully blends football history with politics in Tunisia, observing the close connection between the Tunisian team’s first trip to World Cup and the political events that took place behind the scenes and inside the presidential palace. What might initially seem to be an attempt to recapture a popular football moment, soon becomes an attempt to critically approach contemporary Tunisian history. (Cairo International Film Festival)