Néjia Ben Mabrouk (born 1 July 1949) is a Tunisian screenwriter and director, known for her work on the award-winning film ''

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'' and on the documentary '' The Gulf War... What Next?''.

Early life and education

Ben Mabrouk was born at

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, Tunisia, in 1949 and attended boarding school at Sfax. At a young age, she became familiar with European cinema and joined the local film club. Concerning her career plans growing up, she explains: During her college years, Ben Mabrouk first studied French at Tunis University, but had to leave after a few semesters for financial reasons. She began studying filmmaking at

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in 1972 at Brussels. Her film education was largely built on critical documentary film. She wrote and directed the film ''At Your Service'' for her graduation project in 1976, and then worked as a trainee for

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...

Career

From 1979 to 1980, Ben Mabrouk started writing the script for her first full-length feature, ''

'' (''The Trace''). The film was finished in 1982, but a dispute with the production company SATPEC delayed the film's release until 1988. ''Sama'' won the Caligari Prize at the 1989 Berlin International Film Festival. ''Sama'' contains autobiographical elements from Ben Mabrouk's life, and tells the story of a young Tunisian girl seeking an education, which she eventually finds exiled in Europe. She wrote and directed a fifteen-minute segment titled "In Search of Chaima" for the documentary '' The Gulf War... What Next?'' (1991), investigating the impact of war on women and children. She has written the screenplay for her second full-length feature, titled ''Nuit à Tunis'' (''Night in Tunis'').

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben Mabrouk, Nejia 1949 births Living people Tunisian screenwriters Tunisian women film directors Tunisian film directors Tunis University alumni Women screenwriters 20th-century screenwriters 20th-century Tunisian writers 20th-century Tunisian women writers 21st-century screenwriters 21st-century Tunisian writers 21st-century Tunisian women writers