Ridha Behi
Ridha Behi is a Tunisian director and producer. He is known for The Magic Box and Always Brando (2011).
Ridha Behi
Rayyart1 · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Ridha Behi
- Born
- 7 August 1947
- Birthplace
- Kairouan
- Occupation
- * Director
- Nationality
- French protectorate of Tunisia · Tunisia
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Ridha Behi is a Tunisian director and producer. He is known for The Magic Box and Always Brando (2011).
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Note VALÉORINE
Ridha Behi (born 1947) is a film director, film producer and screenwriter and a national of the French protectorate of Tunisia and Tunisia. The film director was born in Kairouan.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q3431738 · wikipedia · Ridha Behi
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Ridha Behi • Native Name — رضا الباهي • Born — 7 August 1947 • Birthplace — Kairouan • Occupation — * Director • Producer • Screenwriter • Notable Works — The Magic Box Always Brando (2011)
Career
Career
Ridha Behi studied sociology and obtained a master's degree in 1973 at the Paris Nanterre University and a PhD at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in 1977 with a thesis titled Cinema and Society in Tunisia in the 1960s under the management of Marc Ferro. As a Tunisian TV assistant, he wrote the scripts for three short films between 1964 and 1967, and in 1967 made his first short film, La Femme statue, as part of the Tunisian Federation of Amateur Filmmakers. His first two feature films, The Hyena's Sun (fr:Soleil des hyènes) (1977) and Les Anges (1984), were featured at the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 1977 and 1985 respectively. He directed the film Les hirondelles ne meurent pas à Jerusalem in 1994 which received the critic's award at Carthage Film Festival. His film The Magic Box was selected to be screened at Venice Film Festival, received a Special Jury Prize at Carthage Film Festival and also a special mention of the jury at the 22nd Amiens International Film Festival. It was selected as the Tunisian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. He announced his new feature film initially titled Brando and Brando with Marlon Brando portraying himself. But the filming was interrupted by the death of Marlon Brando. The film was finally released as Always Brando in the year 2011. The film was selected to be screened in Toronto International Film Festival. A teacher at the Higher School of Audiovisual and Cinema of Gammarth, he leads various writing workshops around the world, including Méditalents, which he chaired in Morocco in 2012. His film The Flower of Aleppo was released in the year 2016. It was selected as the Tunisian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards, but was changed to As I Open My Eyes by Leyla Bouzid. The film had its initial release at the 27th Carthage Film Festival on 28 October 2016, then it had its regular release in Tunisia on 6 November 2016. He also directed a dozen of documentaries in Arab states of the Persian Gulf between 1979 and 1983, and a series for the channel Al Jazeera titled Portraits of filmmakers, between 2006 and 2008.
Identity
Identity
Ridha Behi is recorded as film director, film producer and screenwriter.
As director, writer and producer
• Year — Film — Credited as — Notes — Ref • Director — Producer — Writer • 1970 — Autumn Rain • 1977 — The Hyena’s Sun • 1984 — Les Anges • 1986 — Champagne amer • 1994 — Les hirondelles ne meurent pas à Jerusalem • 2002 — The Magic Box • 2011 — Always Brando • 2016 — The Flower of Aleppo • 2020 — The Island of Forgiveness — Post-production
As short film director
• 1967 – La femme statue • 1972 – The Forbidden Thresholds
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3431738: Ridha Behi
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Ridha Behi”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
Awards and honours
• Officer of Tunisian Order of Merit – (2004) • Tribute to the Tetouan Mediterranean Film Festival – (2013) • Grand Officer of the Tunisian Order of Merit – (2016) • "Grand Prix Tribute" of Carthage Film Festival – (2017) • Award for Best Director at the International Film Festival of the Mediterranean Countries of Alexandria – (2017) • Winner of the Public prize at the Mons International Film Festival – (2017) He is a regular Member or President of Juries in the Arab world: • 2008 – Jury member (video) of the Carthage Film Festival • 2014 – Jury member (feature films) of the Luxor African Film Festival • 2018 – Member of the Grand jury of Carthage Film Festival • 2019 – Jury member of the Malmö Arab Film Festival (Sweden)
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Hommes et migrations. documents. Hommes et Migrations. Documents. 1950. 0223-3290.
- 2.Brando's final film back on track. 2006-05-25.
- 3.Ridha Behi. IMDb.
- 4.Ridha Behi Archives. Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.
- 5.Armes, Roy. Dictionnaire des cinéastes africains de long métrage. Editions ATM. 2008. 978-2-84586-958-5.
- 6.Personnes. Africultures.
- 7.Record-Breaking 54 Countries in Competition for Oscar(R). 2002-12-19.
- 8.Brando to star as himself in film. 2004-05-19.
- 9.International, Radio Canada. Accueil Radio Canada International. RCI Français.
- 10.Ridha Behi. africultures.
- 11.Un tremplin pour les scénaristes en herbe. le matin.
- 12.Oscars: Tunisia Selects 'Flower of Aleppo' for Foreign-Language Category. The Hollywood Reporter.
- 13.Officiel : 'A peine j'ouvre les yeux' de Leyla Bouzid représentera la Tunisie aux Oscars 2016. tuniscope.com.
- 14.Hommage à Ridha Béhi. Turess.
- 15.Le cinéaste Ridha Behi honoré aux JCC 2017. Kapitalis. 2017-11-11.
- 16.Le cinéma tunisien triplement primé au Festival international du cinéma des pays méditerranéens d'Alexandrie. Al HuffPost Maghreb. 2017-10-14.
- 17.Fleur d'Alep primé par le festival international du film d'amour en Belgique. Al HuffPost Maghreb. 2017-02-20.
- 18.Annabamedfilms.org. www.annabamedfilms.org.
- 19.Le cinéaste Ridha Behi dans le grand jury…. www.nessma.tv. 2018-10-18.
- 20.De l'aéroport au tribunal: L'incroyable mésaventure vécue par le réalisateur Ridha Behi. Al HuffPost Maghreb. 2019-10-08.
References
Citations
References
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authority file
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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