Lotfi Achour

Lotfi Achour (Arabic: لطفي عاشور) is a Tunisian writer, producer and director for theater and cinema.^[1] He is the author of more than 25 theater productions on different stages (London, Paris, Festival In d'Avignon, Tunis, Carthage, Hammamet, Byblos, Kinshasa, Yaoundé…). His last show was co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company for the 2012 Olympic Games London.

In cinema, he produced three award-winning shorts presented at dozens of festivals, including Father (Père) and Law of Lamb (La Laine sur le dos), which screened in the short film competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

In 2016, he directed and produced his first feature film, Burning Hope (Demain dès l'aube).^[3] He followed up in 2024 with Red Path (Les Enfants rouges).^[4]

Early life

He was born in Bab Souika, an emblematic cultural area of the Medina of Tunis. Achour arrived in France at age twenty, where he attended Sorbonne University to pursue cinema and theater. He took part in the Varan workshops on documentary filmmaking.

Career

He associated with the author Natacha Pontcharra, with whom he created a dozen texts in residence in various drama centers and national scenes, including La Chartreuse de Villeneuve Lez Avignon, where he directed three shows, including L’Angélie, a show created at the Avignon Festival in 1998, and billed as "The best show in Avignon festival", by Le Soir in Belgium. Achour thus became the first Tunisian director to occur in the "IN" of Avignon Festival.

Working in both Arabic and French, he designed and implemented international projects involving multidisciplinary artistic collaborations with artists from different nationalities and backgrounds. He ran the Rio Theatre in Grenoble for four years, making it exclusively for contemporary art and living artists.

He designed an installation for the Nuit Blanche in Paris 2006.

In 2009, he joined Anissa Daoud, actress and author, and created the APA, Artistes Producteurs Associés (Producers Artists Associated), a structure for innovative creation that produces movies, theater plays, and musical performances.

Personal life

Achour is married to a Russian playwright. His daughter Doria Achour is an actress and film director.^[5]

Cinema

Features

2016: Burning Hope (Demain dès l'aube)
2024: Red Path (Les Enfants rouges)

Short movies

2006: Ordure
2015: Father (Père)
2016: Law of Lamb (La Laine sur le dos)
2022: Blind Spot (Angle mort)

Theatre

1991: Cet assassin-là vous aime (Written by Natacha de Pontcharra)
1993: Œil de cyclone (Written by Natacha de Pontcharra)
1994: La Gazelle et l'enfant (Written by Abdelwahab Meddeb)
1994: Portrait d'art, baptême et mariage (Written by Natacha de Pontcharra)
1995: Zeyneb (Written by d'Aroussia Nallouti)
1996: Mickey la torche (Written by Natacha de Pontcharra)
1997: La Trempe (Written by Natacha de Pontcharra)
1998: L'Angélie (Written by Natacha de Pontcharra)
2000: Dancing (Written by Natacha de Pontcharra)
2000: Les Brûlants
2000: Les Ratés (Written by Natacha de Pontcharra)
2000: Essbaïhi (Written by Taoufik Jebali)
2002: La Franchise c'est bien (Written by Natacha de Pontcharra)
2002: Oum (Written by Adel Hakim)
2004: La Traversée de Gibran Khalil Gibran (Music by Zad Moultaka)
2006: Ichkabad (Written byTaoufik Jebali et Mohamed Raja Farhat)
2007: La Comédie indigène
2009: Hobb Story, Sex in the (Arab) City
2012: Macbeth, Leïla and Ben: a Bloody History (coproduced by Royal Shakespeare Company)

References

^ Rafa Sales Ross, "‘Red Path’ Director Lotfi Achour on Fictionalizing Gruesome Jihadist Attack and ‘Wonderful Period’ of Tunisian Cinema". Variety, 11 November 2024.
^ Jacques-Alexandre Essosso (11 May 2016). "Lotfi Achour, cinéaste du monde à Cannes". Le Monde.
^ "«Demain dès l’aube»: la relation des tunisiens avec l’espoir". Mosaïque FM, 28 January 2017.
^ Amber Wilkinson, "‘Red Path’: Thessaloniki Review". Screen Daily, 7 November 2024.
^ Essosso, Jacques-Alexandre (19 June 2015). "Doria Achour, un travelling entre Paris et Tunis". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 8 October 2020.

External links

Lotfi Achour at IMDb

[1] Rafa Sales Ross, "‘Red Path’ Director Lotfi Achour on Fictionalizing Gruesome Jihadist Attack and ‘Wonderful Period’ of Tunisian Cinema". Variety, 11 November 2024.

[2] Jacques-Alexandre Essosso (11 May 2016). "Lotfi Achour, cinéaste du monde à Cannes". Le Monde.

[3] "«Demain dès l’aube»: la relation des tunisiens avec l’espoir". Mosaïque FM, 28 January 2017.

[4] Amber Wilkinson, "‘Red Path’: Thessaloniki Review". Screen Daily, 7 November 2024.

[LM2015-5] Essosso, Jacques-Alexandre (19 June 2015). "Doria Achour, un travelling entre Paris et Tunis". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 8 October 2020.

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