Summer 2011 in Tunisia: Fares, Meriem and their son Aziz are a modern family still leading a life of privilege six months after the fall of the Ben Ali regime. Towards the end of summer, the family travels to the south of the country to spend their holidays in the Tunisian desert. The journey south ends in disaster however when ten-year-old Aziz is wounded in an ambush. While his parents fight to save him, their relationship is threatened by events believed long forgotten. Aziz needs a liver transplant, but he is too weak to be moved, so Fares and Meriem wait for a donor in the modestly furnished hospital. A grinding phase of uncertainty sets in, opening up new and deep wounds.

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Mehdi M. Barsaoui, born in 1984 and raised in Tunisia, is a graduate of the Higher Institute of Multimedia Arts of Tunis and holds a degree in film direction from DAMS of the University of Bologna in Italy. He has directed three short-films to date. His most recent, WE’RE JUST FINE LIKE THIS, won the Golden Muhr for Best Film in Dubai in 2016. His international career started with A SON, his debut feature-length film, selected at this year’s Venice Film Festival and Hamburg Film Festival.

Filmography (selection): 2016 WE’RE JUST FINE LIKE THIS (short film), 2019 A SON