PROMISED SKY

Erige Sehiri, France / Tunisia / Qatar, 2025, 95 min., feature film, French, Arabic with English subtitles

Three Ivorian women seeking refuge in an increasingly hostile Tunisia. Marie, a former journalist who is now a pastor, opens her home to Naney, an undocumented mother who wants to bring her daughter over, and to Jolie, a student who struggles with exclusion despite having valid papers. When Kenza, an orphan girl who survived a shipwreck, joins them, the fragile balance is upset. With poetic imagery and great sensitivity, the film opens our eyes to the rarely told reality of African migrant women in North Africa, celebrating their solidarity and resilience while revealing the fragility of care when personal, social, and political front lines collide. A visually impressive and dignified work about vulnerable strength and the search for a place to call home.
Erige Sehiri (director)
Erige Sehiri is a French-Tunisian director, producer, and former journalist whose work bridges documentary realism and narrative cinema. Sehiri began her film career in documentary, directing the acclaimed RAILWAY MEN (2018), which captured the daily struggles of Tunisian railway workers. In 2022, she wrote, directed, and produced her first feature, UNDER THE FIG TREES, an intimate portrait of youth, labor, and fleeting moments of connection set in a rural fig orchard. The film premiered at the 54th Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and was selected to represent Tunisia at the 2023 Academy Awards. It has since screened at major international festivals and been released theatrically in over twenty countries. Beyond her work in film, Sehiri is an active advocate for freedom of expression and media literacy. She is the co-founder of the media INKYFADA and the Tunisian NGO Al KHATT. She is also a founding member of the Rawiyat– Sisters in Film collective, which supports women filmmakers across the Arab world and diaspora. PROMISED SKY, her second feature film, will premiere at Cannes Film Festival Official selection Un Certain Regard.
Tickets: Thu, Oct. 30, 9:30 p.m.
Berlin premiere

Tickets: Sun, Nov. 2, 9:00 p.m.
PROMISED SKY celebrated its world premiere as the opening film of the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes International Film Festival and its German premiere at the Munich Film Festival.

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