Tarak Ben Ammar’s filmography: Profession: producer
The South "comes up" to the North

In 1975, Roberto Rossellini, the emblematic director of Italian neorealism, realized a vast historical reconstitution in Tunisia. Based on the text of the gospel, it tells of the life of Jesus and the apostles over a film of 2 hours and 30 minutes. He filmed, in particular, in Kairouan. To thank the inhabitants for their warm welcome, the film-maker decided to offer the town a stereo installation for the mosque.

Roberto Rossellini even admitted to Tarak Ben Ammar, his executive producer: "This neorealism, I’m telling you, it’s a big joke. It was a way of filming with limited means and organizing ourselves around poverty. Where the critics saw curious intentions and a whole new art, in fact there was only poor-quality film and, indeed, true-to-life actors... Given that the stars asked for too much money, we made do with the local butcher, our drivers and our cleaning ladies!" "Rossellini immediately demystified the cinema for me. He was at the end of his life and passed on to me his experience. I was able to take on the greats of the seventh art without complex."

This crazy comedy by Monty Python tells the story of a man born the same day as Jesus. During the crucifixion scene, the extras were asked to laugh. Through their respect for such a dramatic situation, the extras remained desperately serious. The production was obliged to find a story-teller who managed to relax the crowd with his funny stories.

"The film was born as a result of the Monty Python team spending their vacations in Monastir. They came to see the filming of Jesus of Nazareth and invited me to lunch the next day. They wanted to use the decor. I asked them: what for? They said that they were going to think about it and created the film on the spot!"

"I thought I knew everything about production. I acquired the rights to a book, I had the script written and I went to offer it to Claude Chabrol, who said yes. I took myself for Litvak, I was the president and managing director of my own company called Carthago, and this co-production was a big flop: 12,000 entries in Paris! Chabrol understood that I was nothing but an amateur who understood nothing. So, he made an order, a film to pay the bills as is said, and I was ruined. The best school is the one you pay for out of your own pocket. I realized that the content was more important than the financing. And, if my first film had not been a failure, I would perhaps have become detestable. I now try to be authentic. My greatest fear is to discover that I have become arrogant."

10,000 extras were hired over the full period of filming, i.e., nine months. A synagogue was built in Monastir, next to the mosque...  "The story of Jesus represents an extraordinary cinematographic adventure. Jesus is above all a superb iconography. He was a great man, he saw the dangers of the people of his time, who interpreted in their own way the religious books. He had the courage to bring religion back to its true human proportions, close to the poor and miserable. He was a revolutionary!"

"The power of the image is immense! The film Gandhi did more for Gandhi, in 1983, than all the conferences in the world. Even Khadafy, to whom I sent a copy of Jesus of Nazareth, understood the power and importance of the image. I challenge any man to not leave this film troubled."

See also "Religion" in the "Lexicon" section.