When Khochkhach/La Fleur de l'oubli/The Flower of Oblivion was released in January 2006, the Tunisois flocked to cinemas in the city centre and in the outlying wealthy suburbs of Tunis. Overall, the film received excellent reviews in the local media and attracted more women viewers than men, a good omen for a work by pioneer feminist filmmaker Selma Baccar whose previous productions include Fatma 75 (1976) and Habiba M'Sika/La Danse du feu/ The Dance of Fire (1995). On 25 May 2006, Baccar was one of ten Tunisian filmmakers invited to screen her film as part of the ‘Tous les cinémas du monde’ (All cinemas in the world) programme at the Cannes Film Festival. Yet, although it attracted promising critical attention and was shown at various international festivals, The Flower of Oblivion failed to be a major box-office hit in Tunisia, and a year later was still in search of a distributor abroad. According to critic Tahar Chikhaoui, each new Tunisian film re-awakens the nationally shared dream of the perfect cinematic work; both the government and the public yearn for that special local film that can generate a general feeling of pride and (for the state) foreign currency. Such a film would also have to meet the audience's demanding expectations of a cinema that is at once accessible, popular, innovative and clearly the expression of a Tunisian auteur. However, the question of success for a film from such a small nation becomes even more complicated in the global context of cinema production and distribution.