Eya Bellagha Wins Best First-Time Lead Actress Award in Amman

Tunisian actress Eya Bellagha has won the Best First-Time Lead Actress award at the 7th Amman International Film Festival. She received the honour for her performance in Amel Guellaty’s Where the Wind Comes From. The award was presented during the festival’s closing ceremony on August 3, 2026. Bellagha competed in the Arab Feature-Length Narrative Film Competition.

The award marks an important moment in Bellagha’s career. Over the past several years, she has worked in Tunisian television and cinema. Her roles often place young women at the centre of difficult social and personal situations. She first gained attention through El Maestro, followed by Harga and Harga 2. She later took the lead role of Alyssa in Where the Wind Comes From.

Across these projects, Bellagha has developed a screen presence defined by intensity, independence, and physical expression. Her latest award recognises this progress. It also marks a new stage in her career.

Eya Bellagha’s Early Television Career

Bellagha first reached a wider Tunisian television audience through El Maestro, the 2019 series directed by Lassaad Oueslati. She played Manal, a young woman held in a juvenile rehabilitation centre. Although she was still early in her career, the role revealed a distinctive screen presence.

El Maestro became an important step in her professional development. Rather than entering cinema with an extensive list of credits, Bellagha built her career through a smaller selection of visible roles. Each project allowed her to explore different representations of Tunisian youth.

In 2021, she appeared in Harga, again under Oueslati’s direction. She played Salma and returned to the character in Harga 2. Both series explored migration, youth, family relationships, and the pressures surrounding decisions to leave Tunisia.

Through these productions, Bellagha strengthened her position in Tunisian television. She also became part of a story connected to one of the country’s most persistent social issues.

Her screen credits include the 2021 short film Prison des chiffres, directed by Samy Chaffai. Although her filmography remains relatively compact, it shows a clear progression. She moved from television to short films before taking the lead in a feature-length production.

Kickboxing and Her Development as an Actress

Sport is another important part of Bellagha’s public profile. According to biographical information published by ElCinema and reported by La Presse, she is a four-time Tunisian kickboxing champion.

Her sporting background offers an interesting perspective on her screen performances. Many of her characters display energy, determination, and physical confidence. However, her acting also reveals a more sensitive side.

In February 2026, La Presse described Bellagha as one of the emerging faces of Tunisian acting. The publication highlighted her role as El Yamna in Khottifa, directed by Saoussen Jomni. This character represented another step in her development.

Bellagha’s roles often feature movement, humour, confrontation, and independence. Her characters rarely remain passive when faced with difficult circumstances. Yet describing her only as a rebellious young woman would overlook the emotional range of her performances.

That distinction becomes particularly important in Where the Wind Comes From.

Playing Alyssa in Where the Wind Comes From

Written and directed by Amel Guellaty, Where the Wind Comes From follows Alyssa, a rebellious 19-year-old, and Mehdi, her shy 23-year-old best friend.

The two live in Tunis and dream of changing their circumstances. When they discover a competition in Djerba, they see a possible route towards a different future. They decide to travel across Tunisia together.

Their road trip becomes more than a physical journey. It forces them to confront their dreams, frustrations, friendship, and uncertainty about the future.

Bellagha plays Alyssa, placing her at the centre of the story. Alyssa is energetic, impulsive, and imaginative. She refuses to accept the limits imposed on her. However, she is not simply a symbol of rebellion.

The character is full of contradictions. She can be funny and vulnerable, determined and uncertain, confident and afraid. These changes allow Bellagha to move beyond the intensity of her earlier television roles.

Her performance also depends on her chemistry with Slim Baccar, who plays Mehdi. Their relationship is central to the film. Alyssa and Mehdi are not merely two young people trying to escape their circumstances. They are friends whose understanding of each other changes throughout the journey.

Bellagha gives Alyssa the energy needed to drive the story forward. At the same time, she keeps the character’s vulnerability visible.

International critics also recognised these qualities. Reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes praise the film’s energy and personality, with critics highlighting Bellagha’s performance as one of its strongest elements.

A Tunisian Film with an International Journey

Where the Wind Comes From represents an important moment in Tunisian cinema. It is Guellaty’s first feature film, following her earlier short films Black Mamba and Chitana.

The film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Tunisian, French, and Qatari partners collaborated on the production. The film subsequently travelled through international festivals before reaching Tunisian cinemas in 2026.

For Bellagha, this journey brought Alyssa to a much wider audience. The role gave her the opportunity to work within an international festival environment. It also kept her connected to Tunisian landscapes, language, youth culture, and social realities.

The film’s international reception has therefore become an important part of her professional story. Her award in Amman adds another milestone to that journey.

Recognition at the Amman International Film Festival

The Best First-Time Lead Actress category recognises performances in leading feature-film roles. Bellagha won in the Arab Feature-Length Narrative Film Competition. Hasan Akil received the corresponding Best First-Time Lead Actor award for A Sad and Beautiful World.

The recognition came during the festival’s seventh edition, which followed the theme “Beyond the Frame.” The event brought together filmmakers, industry professionals, and audiences from across the Arab world and beyond.

The closing ceremony celebrated achievements across Arab and international competitions. Bellagha was among the performers recognised for their work.

Her victory places an international marker on a career that began in Tunisian television. It also highlights her transition into feature-film acting.

From El Maestro to International Recognition

Bellagha’s career has followed a relatively selective path. Her filmography includes El Maestro, Harga, Harga 2, and Where the Wind Comes From. Tunisian cinema documentation also records her appearance in Prison des chiffres. In 2026, she appeared in Khottifa.

Each production has offered a different opportunity to develop her craft.

In El Maestro, she played Manal, a young woman living in a rehabilitation institution. Harga and Harga 2 introduced her as Salma in a story about migration and its consequences. In Khottifa, she took on the role of El Yamna, another character marked by independence and determination.

Finally, Where the Wind Comes From introduced her as Alyssa. The character’s imagination and desire for a different life drive the film’s journey across Tunisia.

A recurring theme connects these roles. They feature young women trying to define their own positions in a society that often attempts to define them. However, this is only one aspect of Bellagha’s work.

Her performances also show an interest in physical expression and movement. Her kickboxing background adds another dimension to that quality. As La Presse has noted, her sporting experience connects with the energy and physical intensity of her performances.

What the Award Means for Eya Bellagha

Bellagha’s success comes as Tunisian cinema continues to gain international visibility. Filmmakers and performers from Tunisia are appearing at international festivals. Meanwhile, a new generation of actors is moving between local television, independent cinema, and international productions.

Bellagha’s career forms part of this broader movement. Nevertheless, her trajectory remains distinct.

She began with El Maestro, developed her television experience through Harga and Harga 2, and appeared in short-form cinema. She then took on a leading role in Where the Wind Comes From. Her 2026 appearance in Khottifa added another credit to her growing filmography.

Now, the Amman award provides one of the clearest international recognitions of her work to date.

The honour does not mark the end of her journey. Instead, it offers a significant reference point in a career that continues to evolve.

Playing Alyssa was particularly important because the role required Bellagha to carry a feature film. She had to sustain the story while revealing the character’s changing emotions and complicated relationship with her best friend.

The Amman jury’s decision recognises that responsibility. It also acknowledges Bellagha’s transition from an actress known largely through Tunisian television to a performer reaching a wider Arab cinema audience.

There is something fitting about the fact that the award came for Where the Wind Comes From. The film is built around two young people who refuse to accept that their current circumstances should determine the limits of their future. Bellagha’s own career, at least at this stage, can be read through a similar movement: from early television appearances to increasingly demanding roles, from Tunisia to international festival screens, and now from emerging talent to award-winning lead actress.

The next chapter remains open.

Eya Bellagha has already established a presence in Tunisian television and has now gained international recognition for her first major feature-film lead. Her career is still young, but the Amman award confirms that her work has begun to travel beyond the context in which it first emerged.

For Tunisian cinema, it is another reason to look closely at the new generation of actors shaping its present. For Bellagha, it is a significant first international distinction, attached to a performance that placed her at the heart of one of Tunisia’s most visible recent films.

In Amman, Eya Bellagha did not simply receive a trophy for a role. She received recognition for a performance that carried a Tunisian story beyond its original borders.

And for an actress whose screen career began with El Maestro in 2019, this may be less a conclusion than the beginning of a much wider journey.