A former amateur filmmaker and cinephile since the 1970s, Kamel Ben Ouanès teaches at the University of Carthage.
 He is the author of several articles on cinema and was the president of the Tunisian Association for the Promotion of Cinematographic Criticism (ATPCC) until May 2008. He is vice-president of the African Federation of Cinematographic Critics since March 2009. He was a member of the African Documentary Films jury at FESPACO 2009.