Tarak Ben Ammar, the legendary producer and distributor, said his life may have turned out very differently if a Variety reporter named Hank Werba hadn’t written about his efforts to convince filmmakers to make their movies in Tunisia.
It was that decades-old article, in which Ben Ammar pitched the North African nation as “peaceful” and “inexpensive” place to make films, that caught the attention of George Lucas, who decided to shoot parts of “Star Wars” in the country.
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“[Variety] believed in this young man that was selling nonsense and dreams,” Ben Ammar said, while accepting the International Achievement in Film Award at Variety‘s annual Welcome to Cannes Party, hosted in partnership with the Gotham Film & Media Institute.
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Entertainment industry movers and shakers gathered at the Majestic Hotel, Salon Croisette to celebrate Ben Ammar’s many achievements and kick off the festival in style. Guests included Sony Pictures Classics co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, Sundance Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez, AGC Studios head Stuart Ford, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Janet Yang, Netflix’s chief awards strategist Lisa Taback, The Gotham Film & Media Institute executive director Jeffrey Sharp, “The Wedding Banquet” producer Joe Pirro, “White Noise” producer Uri Singer and Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Frémaux.
Sony Pictures Classics’ Barker presented Ben Ammar with the prize, recounting how film legends like Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford hustled to thank the dealmaker at the recent AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony for Francis Ford Coppola.
“It reminded me of Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall in ‘The Godfather,'” Barker said. “He is the consigliere to these directors.”
Barker also praised Ben Ammar for always taking time to speak to aspiring filmmakers. It’s a philosophy of paying it forward that Ben Ammar traces back to an early encounter with Roberto Rossellini.
“I had no name, no money, no talent, no connections,” Ben Ammar said of Rossellini.
But Rossellini introduced him around the industry, helping put Ben Ammar on a trajectory that would see him become a top advisor to the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Prince Al Waleed, as well as the head of Eagle Pictures, Italy’s top independent film distributor.
“Let’s just makes a good movies, because there are a lot of bad movies,” Ben Ammar urged the crowd of artists and executives.
and director Alberto Barbera attend the Variety Welcome to Cannes Party. Variety via Getty Images
