The TV is Coming (La Télé arrive) (2006)

Ammar Bouthelja, Fatma Ben Saidane, Hichem Rostom, Issa Harrath, Ali Abdelwahab ... see more  , Intidhar Kammarti , Chaouki Bouglia , Abdelhamid Gaies , Jamel Sassi , Nouri Bouzid , Fatima Ben Saidane , Chawki Bouglia

A man tries to give his hometown a new look before European television exposes it to the world in this comedy. Ftouni (Ammar Bouthelja) is the leader of a cultural group that serves as a city council ... read more in a small southern Tunisian village. While the town is a humble farming community where raising goats is a greater concern than fine arts of civic improvement projects, Ftouni learns from representatives from Tunisia's federal government that a German television crew will be spending a day in the town to film material for an upcoming documentary, and he immediately draws up plans to give the hamlet a make-over. Ftouni banishes the farm animals that are penned up near the village border, he pays locals to read newspapers in the café so the townspeople will appear literate, he installs a fountain in the town square even though there isn't enough water to make it work, and he persuades the town's Sufi population to stage a pageant celebrating the city's tradition of religious diversity -- a history that has little basis in fact. However, Ftouni's efforts to give the village a bit of polish don't work so well once the German newsmen arrive. Talfaza Jaya (aka The TV's Coming) was screened in competition as part of the 2006 Dubai Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi