The 5th edition of Douz Doc Days, scheduled from October 12th to 17th at the Sahara Museum in Douz, has been cancelled because of insufficient funding and logistical support. Hichem Ben Ammar, the festival’s founder and director, said in a statement: “We cannot open such an event when we have so little financial visibility and so little logistical support. In 2013 our company, which created the project, lost 12,000 dinars, and in 2014 we had to bring 18,000 dinars of our own capital – 1/5 of the overall budget.”
He particularly criticized the lack of support from the Ministry of Culture: “Instead of addressing the need for reforms inside the ministry, so it can fulfil its role as facilitator and support our efforts, the Ministry, through the Echorouk Journal on September 15th, raises doubts about our good management and even…the fundamental merits of the event itself, which plays host to a growing number of guests, among them film-makers, academics and well-known foreign experts. They describe it as “small, local event not deserving a budget of 85,000 dinars,” but the Doc Days Douz is worth much more!”
This festival would have offered a “tailor-made, quality programme, providing young people from an arid region with an insight into the reality of national and international broadcasting production.” In addition to screenings of documentary films, the festival would have included a photo competition “Douz through Women’s Eyes”, a round table “Filming the South! Filming in the South”, a writing residency, and the screening of the 1926 classic “The Son of the Sheik” with musical accompaniment.
Sources: cinematunisien.com et lescaravanesdocumentaires.com
