Day by day

Laïcité Inch'Allah

France // 2011 // Couleur // 75'
French/Arabic with English subtitles

August 2010. Tunisia in mid-Ramadan, six months before Ben Ali’s fall. With her camera often hidden or carried on her shoulder, Nadia El Fani captures street and marketplace scenes; she sneaks into factories and restaurants that serve food in spite of the fast. The director records the testimonies of those – from all social classes and all age groups, men and women in quest of secularism and tolerance – who are resisting raging islamisation.
In a smattering of images, the film seeks to rectify the confusion carefully maintained by the regime: Islam is not the same as Islamism; secular does not mean atheist. It reminds us that religion is what every believer makes it. Laïcité Inch’ Allah walks in the footsteps of a people re-taking possession of their destiny and exploding a stubborn myth: a Muslim country is not a monolithic ideological block.

Nadia El Fani