A selection at Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight sidebar, Erige Sehiri’s drama Under the Fig Trees would go on to be selected as Tunisia’s Oscar entry and now is finally getting a U.S. release starting this month courtesy of Film Movement Classics. Set over the course of a single day, and with a cast made up of an intergenerational ensemble of non-professional actors, the film ultimately reveals the ways in which sisterhood itself becomes an act of resistance. Ahead of the October 20 theatrical release, we’re pleased to exclusively premiere the new trailer.
Here’s the synopsis: “On a hot summer day, a crew of workers – men and women, young and old – arrive at dawn at a picturesque fig orchard in northwest Tunisia. We eavesdrop, through the sun-dappled leaves of the fig trees, on the young women stealing away precious moments from the foreman’s watchful gaze. Meanwhile, the older women, tasked with the careful job of packing the tender fruit, watch and reminisce together as well. They joke, argue, debate, gossip, flirt, all the while painting an unhurried but riveting portrait of everyday life in the rural society, where class, gender, and circumstance often don’t allow for such personal freedoms.”
See the exclusive trailer below.
Under the Fig Trees opens in theaters on October 20.