Leyla Bouzid

Born in 1984, Leyla Bouzid grew up in Tunis. In 2003, she moved to Paris to study French literature at the Sorbonne then joined La Fémis in the directing department. She directed Soubresaut, her graduation film, in Tunisia just a few months before the revolution. She then directed Zakaria in the south of France with non-professional actors.

In 2015, her debut feature As I Open My Eyes (À peine j’ouvre les yeux), shot in Tunis, premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Since then, it has traveled the festival circuit (Toronto, Rotterdam, Dubai, Carthage, Namur…) and received over twenty awards. The film was warmly received by both the public and critics in its theatrical releases in France and Tunisia.

Her second feature film, A Tale of Love and Desire (Une histoire d’amour et de désir), developed through the Groupe Ouest Annual Selection, was chosen to close the 60th edition of La Semaine de la Critique at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

Une histoire d’amour et de désir

Sélection Annuelle 2016

Ahmed, 18, a Frenchman of Algerian descent, grew up in the Paris suburbs. At university, he meets Farah, a vibrant young Tunisian recently arrived in Paris. While discovering the sensual and erotic Arabic literature he never knew existed, Ahmed falls deeply in love with her. Athough he is completely overwhelmed by desire, he tries to resist it.