Ali Abdelwahab(I)

Born in Tozeur, Tunisia, Ali Abdelwab worked for many years in the theatre. The self-taught man was still very young when he entered the Yenboua Company in Tozeur. Later on in Tunis, he was only 22 when he founded his own company named 'La Renaissance du théâtre'. In 1965, he was awarded the Ali Belhaouane prize for the play 'Hadda et les ennemis de la révolution'. In the meantime, Abdelwahab was part of the birth of the Tunisian cinema after the independence of his country, working as assistant-director to Jacques Baratier and Omar Khlifi and actor (for the latter director notably). He also founded 'Films Faiza' (after the name of his wife, actress Zohra Faiza) and in 1969 wrote, directed and produced his only feature-length movie -Om Abbes (1970)_, the tale of a mother determined to avenge her son.