2000 October 21 : Saturday

JERBA

Jerba is a low, sandy island roughly twelve miles across, that lies just off the coast of southern Tunisia. Regarded by many as the Land of the Lotus Eaters from Homer's Odyssey, today it boasts some of the finest white sand beaches on the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, they are entirely monopolized by the hotel industry. Fortunately for me, my interests were sited on the opposite side of the island. Early the next day, that's where I headed.

The small town of Ajim gets little mention in the guidebooks. Often described as "dreary," it is included only as the point of arrival via a small ferry from the mainland. However, just a few meters off the main drag is "Mos Eisley." Or what's left of it. Today, most of the Mediterranean vernacular architecture that was used to such great effect in STAR WARS has either fallen down or been replaced by more modern building methods. One can still stand in the approximate location where Imperial Stormtroopers stopped Luke Skywalker's landspeeder, but the surroundings no longer resemble the film. Only the small domed structure that served as the exterior of the Cantina remains. Originally said to have been a small bakery, today the building is near ruin and serves as a storage shed.

Slightly subdued by what I had found, I continued on to the other side of town. Eventually, the paved surface gave way to a sandy track that continued along the shoreline. It wasn't long before I came upon a small structure that I recognized immediately. Once upon a time, the small, white, barrel-vaulted building had served as the exterior of Ben Kenobi's house in the original STAR WARS. That is, before 1997. Before the "Special Editions." In reality, it's something of a fisherman's storage shed. Small seashells litter the ground and in the back, a set of steps lead down to the shore where a small rowboat is moored. Knowing that the interior had been filmed on a London sound stage, I curiously stepped inside anyway only to find a few nets, flies, and the lingering smell of gutted fish. After taking a few photos, I continued on.

Ten minutes further down the sandy road, I came upon the Sidi D'Jemour mosque. In the film, this mosque is the first building Luke, Ben, and the droids come upon as they enter Mos Eisley. It's even still visible in the Special Edition - though heavily garnished with computer generated scenery around it. In an early cut of STAR WARS, it was the setting of Anchorhead - a small town where Luke meets up with his friend Biggs (who now is only seen near the end of the present film as a rebel X-Wing pilot). I arrived to find the mosque exactly as it appeared nearly 25 years ago. Not a soul was around except for two small dogs. More content to sleep on the sun warmed sand, they watched me with only a casual interest as I went about photographing and exploring the structure.

 
MEDININE, KSAR HADADA, & TATAHOUINE

Returning to the mainland, I headed further south, intending to spend the night in the town of Foum Tataouine - the namesake of Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine. Along the way I stopped for lunch in Medinine. In the very center of the modern town, are the remains of its ksar, or fortified Arab granary. Part of this structure was used in THE PHANTOM MENACE as the slave quarters - specifically as the entrance to young Anakin's hovel. Relying on my collection of stills, I soon found the set of ghorfas that were used in the film. The sand, doors, and other set details were gone, but the other than that, the place was exactly the same. I was even able to find a postcard that very closely recreated the angle one of the stills I had in my collection.

After lunch, I continued south, gradually rising into the low hills towards the small village of Hadada. A similar ksar is located in the center of town. I parked in front of a large sign that proclaimed in several languages that George Lucas had come here in July 1997 to film STAR WARS. This was one of only two such signs I encountered in my journey through Tunisia. The other was a small sign in the Hotel Sidi Driss the simply read "Star Wars" and had an arrow pointing to a courtyard. More on this later.

Inside Ksar Hadada, some elements of set dressing remained. In several doorways, the futuristic ribbing had remained as well as one painted plywood door. It seems scavengers have taken the rest. Before the film, half of the Ksar had been restored and turned into a hotel. Some of the doorways still had faint room numbers above them. For the most part though, it has fallen back into disrepair. Graffiti adorns many of the surfaces and water bottles have been littered everywhere. I found that this was common in the country. Apparently, non-returnable bottles are one of our cultural differences. Never-the-less, I was able to locate the spot where Liam Neeson and Pernelia August stood as Qui-Gon Jinn and Shmi Skywalker whilst discussing young Anakin's origins. After a night in Foum Tataouine, I headed back north towards the town of Matmata.

In Houmt Souk, I stayed in a converted Funduq - the Hotel Arischa.

01) HOUMT SOUK | I ended up scoring a triple room all to myself.

02) HOUMT SOUK | Outside of my room. Back in the days of the camel caravan, the camels would be kept in the ground level rooms and their owners would sleep in the rooms above them.

I spent the morning revisiting several shooting locations from the original STAR WARS.

03) AJIM | Same place - October 2001. A lot has changed.

04) AJIM | The Cantina. A false entry was built just to the right of the blue door. The interiors were shot on a London soundstage and then reshot a few months later in a Los Angeles studio.

05) AJIM | In back of the "Cantina." Much of the original, vernacular architecture has sadly been lost.

06) NEAR AJIM | The building used as Ben's home is a small structure on the northwest side of the island. No one lives here - it's used as a small fishing hut.

07) NEAR AJIM | Note the boat. A series of steps leads down from the back to the shore.

08) NEAR AJIM | The little alcove you see is the inside of the small bump on the exterior (06 & 06a - above). The set builders took some creative license in terms of scale when they built the interior set on a stage in London. Watch the film again and you'll see C-3PO and Luke are seated in a much larger alcove.

09) SIDI D'JMOUR MOSQUE | Outside of STAR WARS, I first encountered the Sidi D'Jemour Mosque in the early 1990's, in the book North African Villages by Norman F. Carver, Jr. (pp. 182-5, 192).

10) SIDI D'JMOUR MOSQUE | Several scenes (later cut from the film) show Luke visiting friends in the town of Anchorhead. Those scenes were also shot here.

11) SIDI D'JMOUR MOSQUE | I was surprised at the amount of graffitti on the mosque.

12) SIDI D'JMOUR MOSQUE | The little brown thing in the lower right is a dog. There were two. They barely lifted their heads off the warm sand despite my presence. I didn't see anyone else around while I was there.

13) SIDI D'JMOUR MOSQUE | The sun came out from behind the clouds for just an instant.

14) SIDI D'JMOUR MOSQUE | Inside. It doesn't look very "Holy" now does it? I have a feeling that it has become a site of neglect and possibly a teenage weekend drinking/smoking hangout. Snoogins!

15) SIDI D'JMOUR MOSQUE | Interior of the lower section. Cut scenes from the film show Luke entering this section. A set was built in London for all the interior shots though.

From here I went back to the mainland and continued south.

16) MEDENINE | The "slave quarters" were partially shot in the town of Medenine. Its ksar (Berber fortified granery) is located right in the center of town and is now used as something of a tourist mall. Many of the street level ghorfas (rooms/cells/chambers) are souvenir shops.

17) MEDENINE | All of the sand and set decorations have been removed. In the film, Qui-gon & Anakin make a right when they reach the ghorfas at the end of the square. In reality, they would have found themselves in a dead end.

18) MEDENINE | The arch at the end of the square (look closely in 18a above) has been removed. I suspect it may have been built by the film company.

It didn't take long in Medenine to see all I needed to see. Besides, I was constantly being badgered by the shopkeepers ("My friend, come look!"). So, I drove further south, into the Matmata hills to find the small village of Hadada.

19) KSAR HADADA | Even without the sand and set dressing, Ksar Hadada still looks like somthing out of STAR WARS. The yellow door at left is a remnant of the filming.

20) KSAR HADADA | A closer look at the door. Most f the doors and other set dressings have been stripped over the past couple of years by greedy "fans." This one, along with a few others, is high enough that it has escaped theft. At least so far.

21) KSAR HADADA | Most of the doors have been removed, but some of the plastic molding remains.

22) KSAR HADADA | This part of Ksar Hadada was the basis of a set that was built 150+ miles away on the edge of the Chott El Gharsa. Note the shape of the porch that Qui-Gon and Shmi are standing on - you'll see it again.

23) KSAR HADADA | Before THE PHANTOM MENACE, Ksar Hadada was a hotel. This area was the kitchen/bar/restaurant portion. Since filming, the structure has fallen into disrepair.

24) KSAR HADADA | This shot appears in a cut scene on the DVD. In it, Padme (Natalie Portman) descends the stairs. The arched room (ghorfa) at the far right was full of spent water bottles when I visited.