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Moufida Tlatli, celebrating Tunisian life in film

Thanks to an ideal geographic location in the southern Mediterranean basin, Tunisia has grown into a hub of cultural activity over the centuries.

Today, the Tunisian love affair with all things cultural includes motion pictures. Every two years, Carthage hosts an International Film Festival that showcases African, Arab and some Western cinema.

The quality of local production facilities - as well as the country's stark, sweeping landscapes -have led Hollywood to choose Tunisia as the backdrop for memorable scenes in "Star Wars," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and, most recently, "The English Patient."

Of course no country could claim a love of film without producing its own filmmakers. Moufida Tlatli is one of Tunisia's most celebrated artists in the genre.

Tlatli burst onto the scene in 1994 with her first feature film "Les Silences du Palais" (Silences of the Palace). "Silences" is a powerful story set in the household of a high-ranking member of the Tunisian military and nobility.

The film traces the life of a young girl, the daughter of a servant whose kinship with the master is ambiguous. The silence and ambiguity surrounding her parentage is only one of the many hidden truths that surround the palace. Regardless of their social status, all the women in the palace are linked by a lack of power to control their destinies.

Inspired by her mother

Tlatli lives in a whitewashed house, perched atop a hill in Carthage with a view of the exquisite, blue Mediterranean. From the street, the house is a study of graceful arches, unexpected stairways, hanging gardens and exquisite grillwork. Inside, the house is as open and inviting as its owner.

"Silences" was written as a way for Tlatli to connect with her own mother. Like the film's heroine, Tlatli grew up in a household in which the father was absolute ruler. Meanwhile, her mother struggled with the monumental task of raising six children. Cooking, cleaning and dozens of other domestic duties dominated her life.

Even at an early age, Tlatli realized that her mother was being stifled.

"I noticed that when my father left in the morning, the entire house became animated. All of the women in the house had all kinds of interesting things to say. As soon as my father returned in the evening, silence once again fell over our house like a shroud," she says.

Despite the constraints on her own life, Tlatli's mother used everything in her power to make sure that her daughter was able to realize her dreams. Tlatli went to film school in France, not an easy thing to do for any young woman in the 1960s. After film school, she was steered towards film editing, a craft she practiced for 25 years before moving behind the camera.

Once again, it was her mother who influenced her career shift. Tlatli returned to Tunisia when news came that her mother was ailing and needed help. Her mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. As her condition deteriorated, the only person she could recognize was her daughter.

Every day, Tlatli would drive to her mother's home and take her around the countryside by car. Her mother could only hold disjointed conversations. Eventually, when she would grow tired and fall asleep, Tlatli would park the car by the beach until her mother awoke.

"At first I would bring a book or a magazine and read while she slept, but after a while that got a little boring. One day, I decided to bring a notebook, and I began writing down my thoughts about my mother. I then realized while my mother was sleeping beside me that she was in many ways a stranger to me. There were so many things about her life that were now closed off to me because it was too late to ask."

As the weeks wore on and she continued writing, the script for "Les Silences du Palais" began to emerge.

Tlatli's next film project

In the five years since the film's release, Tlatli has traveled the world and gained critical acclaim at almost every stop.

She is currently working on the script for her second feature film. The story centers on a community of traders from the Tunisian island of Djerba. What sets this community apart is that the men, who specialize in the dry goods trade, leave the island for eleven months out of the year to trade on the mainland.

Consequently, the women who remain on the island are regulated by a strict hierarchical system. The senior mother-in-law - usually the grandmother - lays down the law for the entire household.

Tlatli acquaints us with a world of segregated women, a society within a society where individual aspirations are not encouraged.

While finalizing the script for her new film, "Silences" continues to be a major draw at international film festivals. "Silences" has been chosen for a special screening at the New York Women in Film and Television's International Festival, this January.

When asked about her experience in the United States, Tlatli replies that "overall, the response from American audiences has been very warm." She hopes to reach a wider audience with her second film.