"Second Life" Puts Spotlight on Tunisia's Participation at 43rd CIFF

The Tunisian "A Second Life" or "Gadha" film will participate at Arab Horizons for Arab Film Competition, 43rd Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF).

The movie is considered one of the highly anticipated participation in the upcoming edition.

It traces the life of a 12-year old boy who faces a strange and shocking untold secret about his family. The bitter secret left the boy enraged, and turned his life upside down. Therefore, he starts questioning everything around, including the guilt the elders left for the younger to deal with, and its aftermath on the friendship related-relations.

Regarding the synopsis of "A Second Life," Gadha (12) happens one day to be the victim of a car accident. He undergoes surgery. Penniless, his mother, Borkana, is helped by Malika and Moez, a benevolent couple that offers to pay for the hospital fees and provides the destitute family with a roof. Gadha meets Oussama, Malika, and Moez’s child (11) who is recovering from a kidney transplant. A strong friendship is made between the two boys. But Gadha finds out haphazardly the secret of his family's new standard of living. He is devastated.

So, the director Aniss Lassoued, who has wide experience in short and documentary features, amusingly uses a catchy, and smooth cinematic discourse that reflects the positivity of life lovers, and childhood's emotions, however, it directs the audience to meet other bitter truths such as intentional mistakes made by the elders that hurt the younger.

Regarding the motives behind bringing the sensitive relationship between elder people and children to the screen, the story was sparked by the shocking footage of the Syrian Alan Kurdi's dead body on the beach after his drowning while his family's failed attempt to escape from the horrors of the war in Syria.

Talented actress Chema Ben Chaabane is the scriptwriter of the film, and she also participated in acting and production to turn her dream into reality.

"Gadha" will be premiered for the first time internationally at the CIFF which is a significant success for the film's crew.