CinemaNA: Promised Sky

A screening of Promised Sky, by French Tunisian filmmaker Erige Sehiri.

Cast: Aïssa Maiga, Deborah Christelle Naney, Laetitia Ky, Estelle Kenza Dogbo, Foued Zaazaa, Mohmed Grayaa, Touré Blamassi
Directed, Co-Written, and Co-Produced By: Erige Sehiri
Screenwriters: Anna Ciennick, Malika Cécile Louati
Producers: Didar Domehri and Erige Shiri
Production Companies: Maneki Films, Henia Production
Cinematographer: Frida Marzouk
Editor: Nadia Ben Rachid
Sound: Aymen Laabidi, Alexis Jung, Simon Apostolou]
Music: Valentin Hadjadj
Hair & Makeup: Karine Ourega
French Line Producer: Julien Auer
Tunisian Line Producer: Yasmine Dhoukar
Post-Production Supervisor: Adrien Léongue

Erige Sehiri
Erige Sehiri is a French Tunisian director, producer, and former journalist whose work bridges documentary realism and narrative cinema. Sehiri began her filmmaking career by directing the acclaimed documentary Railway Men, which captured the daily struggles of Tunisian railway workers.

In 2022, she wrote, directed, and produced her first feature, Under the Fig Trees — an intimate portrait of youth, labor, and fleeting moments of connection set in a rural fig orchard. The film premiered at the 54th Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and was selected to represent Tunisia at the 95th Academy Awards. It has since screened at major international festivals and released theatrically in over 20 countries.

Beyond her work in film, Sehiri is an active advocate for freedom of expression and media literacy. She is the co-founder of the media group INKYFADA and the Tunisian NGO Al KHATT. She is also a founding member of the Rawiyat – Sisters in Film Collective, which supports women filmmakers across the Arab World and diaspora.

Promised Sky, her second feature film, premiered as part of the 78th Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard.