Screenwriter and director, he enrolled in film studies in 1968 at INSAS (
Institut National des Arts du Spectacle et Techniques de Diffusion) in Brussels, where he graduated in 1972, with his short film Duel. Then he returned to Tunisia where he worked for television for a year, but was arrested for his connections with the radical group GEAST (
Groupe d'Etude et d'Action Socialiste Tunisian). He was released in 1979. At first he worked on film sets as directors’ assistant and doing various other jobs. He wrote and directed his first film
Rih essed in 1986, which focuses on the problem of child abuse and has received
Un Certain Regard award in Cannes. He filmed the drama
Safa'ih min dhahab three years later, and in his film
Bezness (1992) he portrays male prostitution. He took part in the omnibus
Harb El Khalij... wa baad (1993). In his film
Bent familia (1997) he deals with the position of women in modern day Tunisia. After
Poupées d'argile (2002) about house maids from poor communities, in
Making of, le dernier film (2006) he deals with religious fundamentalism.
Millefeuille (2013) is currently his latest film. Apart from working in film, since mid 1990’s he has been lecturing at EDAC (
L’École des Arts et du Cinéma) in Tunisia.