Quick Answer — The Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage — the JCC, or Carthage Film Festival — is the oldest film festival in Africa and the Arab world, founded in 1966 to give the cinema of both a home of its own. It is held every year, with dates that move between late autumn and December; the 2026 edition, the 37th, runs December 12–19 and celebrates the festival’s 60th anniversary. For a week, downtown Tunis turns into one big cinema: competition screenings across the Avenue Bourguiba movie houses, the golden Tanit trophies for the best African and Arab films, and a street atmosphere — queues, debates, festival badges everywhere — that no red-carpet festival in Europe can match for democratic energy. Tickets cost pocket change, much of the programme screens with French and often English subtitles, and for a traveler in Tunis during festival week, wandering into the JCC is the easiest deep dive into contemporary Tunisia there is.
Cannes has the yachts and Venice has the lagoon; Tunis has something better in festival week — an entire downtown that goes to the movies. For eight days, Avenue Habib Bourguiba’s grand old cinemas run from morning to midnight, the queues wrap around colonial arcades, and strangers argue about Senegalese debuts and Palestinian documentaries at café tables. The JCC isn’t an industry event the public watches from behind a barrier. It’s the public’s festival, and it has been since 1966.
JCC 2026 at a Glance
- Dates: December 12–19, 2026
- Edition: 37th — the festival’s 60th anniversary
- Director: filmmaker Mokhtar Laâjimi
- Competitions: fiction features, documentary features, short films, and Carthage Ciné-Promesse for emerging filmmakers
- Part of a season: the JCC closes the autumn’s three Carthage Days festivals — see our guide to the music, theatre and film days
Why the JCC Matters
The festival was founded by Tahar Cheriaa, the great Tunisian critic and cultural militant, with a purpose that was radical in 1966 and still shapes the event: African and Arab cinema, judged on its own stage, not as a novelty act at someone else’s festival. The main competitions remain reserved for filmmakers from Africa and the Arab world, and the JCC’s top prizes — the Tanit d’Or, d’Argent and de Bronze, named for the Carthaginian goddess — form one of the most meaningful honours either cinema can win. The roll of Tanit d’Or laureates reads as a history of two continents’ cinema, from Sembène’s generation onward; Tunisia’s own proudest festival moments, and its Oscar-run successes like The Man Who Sold His Skin, trace back through JCC premieres.
Sixty years on, the anniversary edition is a chance to see how far that idea has travelled. The festival that began as a stage for cinemas nobody else would screen now sits at the centre of a generation of Arab and African filmmakers whose work plays at every major festival in the world — and many of them still count a Tanit among the prizes that matter most.
What Attending Is Actually Like
Blessedly unglamorous. Screenings happen in the working cinemas of downtown Tunis — the Colisée and its Avenue Bourguiba siblings — with the Théâtre Municipal and the halls of the Cité de la Culture hosting ceremonies and galas; confirm each year’s venue list when the programme is published. Tickets are bought at the box office for a few dinars, and the day-of queue is part of the sport. The programme spans the four competitions, out-of-competition premieres, retrospectives and special sections; Arabic-language films typically carry French subtitles, and much of the programme has English too, so check individual listings.
Between films, festival life happens on the Avenue itself: the café terraces, the badge-spotting, the arguments that begin in the foyer and end three coffees later. Even without a single ticket, downtown Tunis in JCC week is worth a traveler’s detour.
Practical Notes for Visitors
When: December 12–19 in 2026. Dates change from edition to edition — recent festivals have run anywhere from late October to December — so always check the current year’s announcement. The full programme usually appears on the festival’s official channels shortly before opening.
Where to base: downtown Tunis or nearby. For once, the touristic suburbs are the wrong address; the festival lives on the Avenue. Our Tunis travel guide covers the neighbourhoods, and where to stay in Tunis has the hotels.
Weather: December evenings in Tunis are cool and sometimes wet — bring a jacket for the queues. Month-by-month details are in our weather guide.
Combine: festival nights pair perfectly with crowd-free sightseeing days at the ruins of Carthage and in the medina. And in December, the south beckons too: our guide to Tunisia in December covers Revolution Day on the 17th and the Sahara Festival at Douz.
FAQ
When is the Carthage Film Festival in 2026? December 12–19, 2026. It is the festival’s 37th edition and its 60th anniversary.
Is the JCC held every year? Yes. The festival was biennial for much of its history and is now annual.
Who can compete at the JCC? The main competitions are reserved for films from Africa and the Arab world.
What is the Tanit d’Or? The JCC’s top prize, named after Tanit, the Carthaginian goddess. Silver and bronze Tanits are also awarded.
Are films at the JCC subtitled? Arabic-language films usually screen with French subtitles, and many films also have English subtitles. Check each listing.
Where does the JCC take place? Mainly in the cinemas along and around Avenue Habib Bourguiba in central Tunis, with ceremonies at the Théâtre Municipal and the Cité de la Culture.
From the Carthage Magazine Bookshelf
The festival tells the region’s stories on screen — these three tell them in your pocket.
- All About Tunisia — the definitive English-language traveler’s guide. 572 pages, 27 chapters, all nine regions, every UNESCO inscription, five thematic trails. $24.99 · PDF & EPUB.
- Speak Like a Local — 200+ Tunisian Arabic phrases with native audio recorded in Tunis. For the box-office queue and the café debates after. $14.99 · PDF, EPUB, MP3.
- The Authentic Tunisian Cookbook — sixty traditional recipes from the heart of North Africa. $9.99 · PDF & EPUB.
All three available as a bundle for $39.99 — guide, language, and food, delivered together.
