Sweat

SUEUR is one of only two films to be kept in the archive of the Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 8mm format. It was shown in competition at the 34th Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 1988, submitted by director Amor Nagazi, as he recalls it, on his own initiative. The jury of the FIPRESCI International Federation of Film Critics awarded SUEUR a second prize. In accordance with festival regulations, the award resulted in the purchase of the film for the archive. At the time, director Amor Nagazi was a member of an amateur film club in his hometown of Kairouan, Tunisia. SUEUR was his first film, shot on Super 8 with the help of a small team of friends from the film club. Step by step, the film documents the artisanal production of mud bricks, which were once used to build not only the majority of buildings in Kairouan, but also the imposing city wall.

Our read · Sweat (1986) reads as a sombre, measured, grounded drama entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, nihilistic in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.