Leila Chaïbi: Gardien des mondes | Guardian of the Worlds - Selection officielle - FESPACO 2023

Leila Chaïbi

Gardien des mondes | Guardian of the Worlds

Selection officielle - FESPACO 2023

France - Documentary - 90mins - 2021

Synopsis
Hassan recalls the first night that Jellaz became his place of shelter. After burying his parents and two brothers, he rested his head at the foot of their graves, fell into a deep sleep, and felt his soul fly. Forty years later, Hassan is the guardian of Jellaz, stationed at the crossroads of two worlds. During the day, we follow Hassan as he greets both the dead and living as well as maintains the space as required - he gardens, builds, cleans, and helps with burial ceremonies. Sometimes he visits crowded neighborhood cafés and blends into life among the living. The injustices and misery that he witnesses outside of Jellaz intrude upon the joy and hope that he feels every day in his enchanted workspace, home, and eventually, deathbed. And then there is Sabrine. She knows what it is like to live a rough and precarious life, and she too is looking for an earthly companion. As Hassan prepares for his own life after death, he shares with us his notes on mercy, memory, and love.

Il y a près de quarante ans, au pied d’un tombeau et sur un banc, Hassan s’endort d’un sommeil de mort. Depuis, sur les hauteurs du Jellaz en Tunisie, il veille les absents et observe les vivants. Au fil des jours et des nuits, au gré des saisons et des rencontres, ce film permet de découvrir la vie singulière de ce grand cimetière. En quête d’amour et de liberté, entre réalité et rêve, Hassan nous invite à découvrir ses mondes. (Source: https://www.film-documentaire.fr/4DACTION/w_fiche_film/65741)

***

Bio
Leila Chaibi, born in Créteil to an Algerian father and a French mother, studied cinema in France before starting her career as a Reporter d'Images within the France Television group. Her taste for discovery and travel led her to work as a freelance camerawoman, mainly for television, first in France, then in the Indian Ocean and the Maghreb. She has collaborated with various magazines and on documentaries.

Leila Chaibi, née à Créteil, d’un père algérien et d’une mère française, elle a suivi des études de cinéma en France avant de débuter sa carrière en tant que Reporter Images au sein du groupe France Télévision. Son goût pour la découverte et les voyages l'a amenée à exercer le métier de cadreur en free lance, essentiellement pour la télévision, d'abord en France, puis dans l'Océan Indien et au Maghreb. Elle a collaboré à divers magazines et documentaires. (Source: africine.org)