In 2019, Mehdi’s directorial debut A SON, premiered in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival and promptly took home the Best Actor prize in that sidebar for the lead performance by French-Tunisian actor Sami Bouajila. The film follows what happens when a young Tunisian boy needs a liver transplant and his father, played by Bouajila, discovers he’s not the biological parent. In April this year, Bouajila won the César for Best Actor for the same role.