Railway Line No.1—running along the Mediterranean coast from Tunis to Marrakech—was once the pride of Tunisia. After years of neglect, ‘The Normal Line’ has fallen into disrepair and accidents are now a regular occurrence. After the initial promise of the Jasmine Revolution, those working on the line have found that many of the old problems remain as state corruption and bureaucratic incompetence halt progress at every turn. Rumbling through the breathtaking landscape of the North, this increasingly strained railway network and the plights that its workers face mirrors the profound difficulties that Tunisia is experiencing as it strives towards creating a post-revolutionary society.

This is the UK Premiere

Followed by a Q&A with Ahmed Mourad Khanfir, the film’s assistant director and a subject in the film

Read an essay on Railway Men by Aisha Jamal

Erige Sehiri is a Tunisian-French journalist and documentary filmmaker. She directed several short documentaries and worked as an independent journalist for international broadcast channels. Since 2011, she committed herself, in Tunisia, to the development of new participative media and co-founded the Tunisian webzine ‘Inkyfada’.