Ksar Hadada
OVERVIEW
Site: Ksar Hadada (northwest corner area)
GPS: 33.100502, 10.313744
Location: Ksar Hadada village center, Tataouine Governorate, southeast Tunisia
Description: Amazigh fortified granary village (mid-19th century CE)
Repurposed: Hotel Ksar Hadada
Star Wars film:
Episode I — The Phantom Menace (1999)
Set construction start: Early July 1997
Production: 10 August 1997
Star Wars location | Film sets:
Mos Espa | slave quarters backyards
Mos Espa | slave quarters street
Leads on set:
Liam Neeson / Qui-Gon Jinn
Natalie Portman / Padmé Amidala Naberrie
Pernilla August / Shmi Skywalker
Scenes:
80 [“There’s something about this boy”] — Filmed: 10 August 1997
81 [Qui-Gon and Shmi on porch discuss Anakin] — Filmed: 10 August 1997
A82 [Shmi standing alone on porch] — Filmed: 10 August 1997
85 [Padmé exits hovel at sunrise] <deleted> — Filmed: 10 August 1997
Final cut: 3
Deleted: 1
Composited background ksar footage: 1 scene
85 [Padmé exits hovel at sunrise] <deleted> — Scene film site: Ksar Hadada
Recce: Only prequels film site in Tunisia to be initially scouted but not utilized for Episode IV. The mid-November 1975 recce explored the then-newly restored northwest corner of the site, presumably as a potential location for unrealized Mos Eisley slums street sequences.
Tataouine: Only Star Wars film site located in the Tunisian region of Tataouine, the orthographic inspiration for renaming the desert planet of Utapau to Tatooine in the Episode IV fourth draft (1 January 1976).
Template: Film site main courtyard—not used for filming—paired with other northwest corner elements was replicated to construct the Mos Espa slave quarters backyards set (Mos Espa small set) in the Eriguet dunes north of Nefta (Tozeur Governorate).
Café: Northeast corner of Café Salon de Thé (closed local business) visible in film footage.
Background architecture: Post-production efforts utilized segmented plate content of the Ksar Hadada northwest corner porch to create Mos Espa cityscape architecture in one of the five Episode I scenes containing composited background ksar footage.
Wrap: Final film site/production date for 1st unit Episode I principal photography in Tunisia.
Restoration project: Galaxy Tours designed/funded a restoration project in 2020 to revive key Episode I Mos Espa architectural elements in the film site northwest corner, focused primarily on the filming area porch, staircase, main courtyard (set template), and color-match repainting.
