Projects in development
PURE MADNESS
Synopsis
Kaddour, the filmmaker’s great-uncle, left Tunisia in the 1960s to study in France. He wrote regularly to his family until, one day, his letters suddenly stopped, leaving his relatives in a state of worry for an entire decade. After a lengthy search, they finally found him in a psychiatric hospital in Paris and repatriated him to an institution in Tunis. His mental health progressively deteriorated. In his delirium, some of his words remained frozen in time, raising doubts: he claimed to have left behind a wife and child in Paris, and a few tangible traces of his time in France remain. In 2014, Kaddour died, alone, with no confirmation ever having been found of the existence of this wife and child. What if everything he said was true? Thus begins an investigation that stretches between Tunisia and France, in an attempt to uncover the truth behind the psychosis.
Partners attached
DocHouse, IDFAcademy
Director’s statement
Pure Madness draws on my family history to uncover what is universal about mental health, a delicate thread oscillating between reality and psychosis. At the heart of the story, an investigation into finding the family of my great-uncle, Kaddour, emerges. But its reach extends beyond the individual and offers a captivating dive into the intricacies of mental disorders, exploring family bonds, the buried truths that shape our lives, and the challenges of mental health; a universal right. The cinematic experience is woven together as a mix of visual archives, photographs, mixed-media techniques, and collage to create a rich emotional texture. This visual narrative envelops the viewer in a multidimensional exploration, blurring the line between reality and imagination, and adding layers of meaning and emotional depth to the story.The guiding thread of the story explores a multitude of underlying narratives, addressing profound themes such as migration, mysticism, and family taboos.
Biographies
Inès Arsi is a graduate of the Audiovisual and Film School in Tunis. Her student film, Oui mais non earned her a seat on the Unimed jury at the Venice International Film Festival in 2017. Trained in documentary directing and writing at La Fémis Université d'été and active in various organizations and collectives including WScripted, Arsi directed Thick Skin, a documentary supported by Doc House and Mawjoudin. Following her latest short film, Flesh and Blood (2022), she is developing Pure Madness, her first feature-length documentary.
unisian producer Sarra Ben Hassen boasts over 25 years of experience in executive production. She joined the EAVE network in 2018. She notably produced Meryam Joobeur’s Academy Award-nominated short film Brotherhood (2018). Her debut feature as a producer, Joobeur’s Who Do I Belong To (2024), had its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. Ben Hassen is the co-founder and CEO of Instinct Bleu, a Tunisian film company founded in 2019 that focuses on nurturing Arab and African talent through their productions.
