Néjib Ayed, 1953 – 2019

Néjib Ayed
December 13, 1953 – August 16, 2019

A very sad weekend in Tunis. Néjib Ayed, director of the Carthage International Film Festival passed away at the age of 66 of a heart attack, in his house in Tunis. He was buried on August 18 in Sousse where he was born in 1953.

Tunisia lost one of the important figures of the film world in Africa and the Arab World. His life was dedicated to cinema. He started as chairman of the FTCC – Tunisian Federation of Film Clubs in 1975. After having worked as film journalist in the daily newspaper Le Temps, and as head of the department of culture in the magazine Rélaités, he joined the film department at the Ministry of Culture in the 80s and was in charge of production and international promotion of Tunisian films. In the late 90s he founded his own production company, Rives Productions, and produced many films and tv series. He is also the founder, in 1991, and director of the “International Film Festival for Youth and Kids” in his hometown, Sousse. In 2008, he was appointed member of the High Commission of Culture.

He disappeared suddenly while he was preparing the upcoming edition of JCC, the Carthage Film Festival, a historic event in Africa and the Arab World (October 26 – November 2, 2019). When he took over this prestigious film festival in 2017, he was committed to bring it back to its original vocation as crossroad of African and Arab independent arthouse film.

Néjid Ayed will be missed, his work will stay. Farewell artist.

Hassouna Mansouri