STAR WARS in Tunisia...A decor that needs life!

There are some international classics in cinema, that almost every cinefile know, most of them are americans and some of them are filmed in Tunisia; The Arab by Rex Ingram (1924), Pirates by Roman Polansky (1986) which inspired the very famous Pirate of the Caribbean franchise, Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark by Steven Spielberg (1981), The English Patient by Anthony Minghella (1996), and Star Wars by George Lucas (1977), etc., which leaves us a unique international patrimony. Which is different, due to its modernity and its presence in international media.

My last visit to the set remains pushed me to write this article, because I have to express a big disappointment.  I have to confess, I am not a Star Wars fan and I have never been able to watch a whole movie out of the franchise. But I am well aware of the importance of this movies on an international scale and its impact on the national scale, here we are talking about tourism and artistic creations.  It was the first time I visit the Star Wars set in Tunisia and I can’t tell you how fun the trip is. But some images made me angry and sad because of the carelessness of those who supposed to protect the site from damagers. What I have found was some locals using the set houses as shops to cook traditional bread, I have found leftovers of  beer bottles in some other decor houses, the middle area was occupied by shoppers with their stands (photos). I examined the quality of the decor, and it is very fragile to be used as shops. I don’t blame locals to use the set in order to make business, it is one of the very few ways to survive in that area.

Some images from my last visit

This is a call to the responsible organisms in Tunisia, and a proposition for entrepreneurs. This is a solution proposition to give back the Star Wars Set another life. First we should consider that all around the world there is a very large Star Wars community, who don’t know yet about the Tunisian amazing experience. I have red in some blogs, that foreign press claim that ISIS took over the set, but this was not true!

My proposition is as follow, the set must be preserved clean and empty. In the same area there should be creation of more adequate buildings for shops and camel tours. There should be an implementation of a better Star Wars experience, where I propose to open shops for movie costumes (after all the movie costumes are inspired from Tunisian traditional outfits) where visitors can wear them, ride a camel and make a tour in and around the set. Now let’s introduce more technology, I propose to use 3D technology or Holograms in order to recreate movie heroes and creatures. Imagine yourself walking with Princess Leia or Luke. As a finish, a wall must be built in order to protect the whole site from dune migration.

This may cost a fortune, but imagine the economic effect that this can engage on the long term. A Public-Private Partnership can be applied in this project in order to lighten the tension on the ministry of tourism and beneficiate from private expertise.