Summary
Graduates of the international study programmes run by Prague film school FAMU have over the decades often taken part in co-production projects. This proved the case where Tunisian director Abdelhafidh Bouassida was concerned. In 1982, he created balladic romance Přeludy pouště (Desert Phantoms). The film, inspired by stories of the Orient, was a Tunisian co-production made with Prague’s Barrandov film studios and Czechoslovakia’s Krátký film (established as far back as 1957). The protagonist, the penurious young man Mamlúk (Yorgo Voyagis), saves the life of a mighty ruler. As a reward, the pauper simply asks for a plot of land on which he might farm with his family. The ruler promises Mamlúk all the land he can cover by foot in a single day. But acquisitive people around him force the young man on to a march of death. He loses everything, including, eventually, his own life… Besides the exotic narration, the main attraction of the film lies in the cast of Tunisian and Czech actors, who were joined by an international star of Greek origin, Irene Papas, who took the role of the hero’s mother.
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