Selim Ben Safia

“El Botinière,” a mythical cabaret in the heart of Tunis, is also a choreographic piece that unearths the hidden nightlife in the Tunisian capital. It was not until he was ten that Selim Ben Safia began to understand what happened beneath the building in which he and his family lived. When night descended, his street became a mysterious world inhabited by nebulous haggard specters, fleeting passions and lusts, frenzied cries of ecstasy or deep despair. The young Selim observed them for years. He could not understand what made those “adults” metamorphose the moment they passed through those wide wooden doors. But the images of those faces and bodies became imprinted on his young mind and fed vivid memories that have never faded.