MARRAKECH / NEW YORK– After a triumphant festival run that began with opening the Un Certain Regard section at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, Erige Sehiri’s Promised Sky (Promis le ciel) has continued to gather major awards and distribution deals, with a North American release in April 2026 and screening at New York African Film Festival May 2026.
The French-Tunisian director’s second feature – an observational migrant drama following three Ivorian women navigating life in Tunisia – won the prestigious Étoile d’Or (Golden Star Grand Prize) at the 22nd Marrakech International Film Festival, where actress Deborah Lobe Naney also took the Best Actress award by unanimous jury vote.
A Story of Sanctuary and Survival
Set in modern-day Tunisia against a sharply rising anti-sub-Saharan political climate, the film centers on Marie (Aïssa Maïga), an Ivorian pastor and former journalist who has lived in the country for a decade. Her home becomes a fragile refuge for two compatriots: Naney (Deborah Lobe Naney), an undocumented mother separated from her child, and Jolie (Laetitia Ky), a documented student who discovers that papers do not protect her from racism. When they rescue a four-year-old orphaned shipwreck survivor named Kenza (Estelle Kenza Dogbo), the women must confront the limits of solidarity in a rapidly changing Tunisia.
Variety called the film “a unique drama about marginalized African immigrant women fighting for their dignity and place not in Europe… but on their own continent,” praising its “keenly observed migrant drama with a documentarian’s aesthetic.”
Why This Film Matters Now
Sehiri, a former journalist and co-founder of the Tunisian investigative media Inkyfada, has stated that a shocking statistic drove her to make the film:
“80% of African migrants move to another African country; only 20% to Europe. Yet in the media, we always feel it’s the reverse. There is a part of the story we don’t have – a reverse narration of the story.”
The film unfolds against the real-world backdrop of 2023–2025, when Tunisian President Kais Saïed made openly hostile statements against sub-Saharan African migrants, triggering raids, mass arrests and forced expulsions. Sehiri notes: “Reality caught up with the story we were writing.”
A Docudrama Aesthetic with Improvised Moments
Cinematographer Frida Marzouk shot the 92-minute film on ARRI Alexa Mini LF with Panaspeed lenses, allowing spontaneous, low-light improvisation. The set famously blurred fiction and reality: when a real fight broke out between Congolese and Tunisian children on location, Sehiri immediately wrote it into a scene. An arrest of a local pastor occurred exactly as the crew was preparing to shoot a similar fictional sequence.
The film is the second installment of Sehiri’s planned trilogy about women at work in Tunisia. The first was Under the Fig Trees (2022), set among agricultural workers. The third will take place in a luxury hotel in the coastal resort of Hammamet.
Cast, Crew & Production
The film is an international co-production between France, Tunisia and Qatar, produced by Didar Domehri (Maneki Films) and Sehiri’s own Henia Production. Major backers include the Doha Film Institute, Hubert Bals Fund, Red Sea Fund, Creative Europe Media, and the French CNC.
Full cast: Aïssa Maïga, Deborah Lobe Naney, Laetitia Ky, Estelle Kenza Dogbo, Foued Zaazaa, Mohamed Grayaâ, Touré Blamassi.
Release & Where to See It
- New York African Film Festival: Opening Night premiere, 6 May 2026 at the Walter Reade Theater
- World sales: Luxbox
Additional Awards
- Best Screenplay – Mostra de València
- PIUCULTURE Award – Mostra de València
- Ecumenic Award – MedFilm Festival
- Audience Award – Human Rights Film Festival Lugano