Bouzid, "Les Sabots en or"
- Artist/Author/Producer: Nouri Bouzid
- Confronting Bodies: Ministry of Culture & Information, Ministry of Interior
- Dates of action: November 1989
- Location: Tunisia
- Description of the Art Work
- Youssef Soltane, a leftist intellectual, political militant, and the
father of three children is released from prison. Arrested, condemned, then
tortured, he managed to survive for years thanks to his ideals. At the
end of the night, after roaming the city and a few unfortunate meetings
with his children and friends, he commits suicide.
- Description of incident
- In November 1989, the Control Commission of the Tunisian Ministry of
Culture and Information demanded that the torture scenes and a love
scene, considered too crude, be suppressed. A second commission, ordered
by the Ministry of Interior, demanded 18 cuts. The Ministry of Interior
felt criticized by the depicted police violence as torture had been
officially abolished two years before. Filmmaker Nouri Bouzid accused the
intolerances of Muslim "integrisme."
- Results of incident
- The film was mutilated, then forbidden within the country. Nourid Bouzid
is fighting for his film to be distributed in its original version in
Tunisia. The press took hold of the case, and with some Western support,
is trying to defend the film.
Source:Les Cahiers du Cinema, No 431/432, May 1990
