The guardian of the past


Ali Drid is the guardian of a white and blue grand palace in the heart of Tunis. The palace used to belong to the last Prime Minister of Tunisia before independence. Here Ali Drid lives halfway between the splendours of the past and the earnestness and decay of the present. His only companions are a black cat and the slow passing of time, marked by his daily prayers, a trip to the market, cooking simple and healthy meals, repairing electrical appliances, a nostalgic look at the pictures of his family and reading the sacred Suras of the Quran. Only one step beyond the everyday façade of a bustling Mediterranean city, there is a world made of small gestures in a grand, run down setting - the same gestures every day after the other. A symbol of the effort to make sense of the past and to live the present in its full, minimal weight.

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