We live in strange times. This young century has been defined by harrowing disasters both natural and man-made, political tribalism, and existential threats to the future of the planet. What better time for documentary filmmaking?
Non-fiction cinema has been evolving since the birth of the medium while capturing a world in motion. From the actualités of the Lumière brothers in the late 19th century to the heavily manipulated ethnographic films of the 1920, from the vérité films of the Maysles brothers to the man-on-the-street agitprop popularized by Michael Moore, documentaries have naturally always been more responsive to their times than any other mode of filmmaking.
Not only do they reveal our world to us, but they shape how we view it, and the early years of the 21st century have proven that to be more true than ever before. On one hand, digital technology has infinitely expanded our range of vision,...
Non-fiction cinema has been evolving since the birth of the medium while capturing a world in motion. From the actualités of the Lumière brothers in the late 19th century to the heavily manipulated ethnographic films of the 1920, from the vérité films of the Maysles brothers to the man-on-the-street agitprop popularized by Michael Moore, documentaries have naturally always been more responsive to their times than any other mode of filmmaking.
Not only do they reveal our world to us, but they shape how we view it, and the early years of the 21st century have proven that to be more true than ever before. On one hand, digital technology has infinitely expanded our range of vision,...
- 3/27/2024
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated Four Daughters (Les Filles d’Olfa) won Best Documentary at the César Awards, France’s equivalent of the Academy Awards.
The ceremony, which crowned Anatomy of a Fall as Best Film, took place Friday night at the Olympia Theater in Paris. The win for Four Daughters comes in the midst of final Oscar voting, which runs until 5 p.m. Pt on Tuesday.
As she accepted the award, Tunisian-born Ben Hania turned her attention to the situation in Gaza, which Israel invaded after the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed an estimated 1,200 men, women and children and in which Hamas seized more than 240 hostages (roughly a quarter of the hostages are believed dead). The Ministry of Health in Gaza says more than 10,000 Palestinian children have been killed since the start of Israel’s bombing and ground campaign in Gaza.
Director Kaouther Ben Hania and producer...
The ceremony, which crowned Anatomy of a Fall as Best Film, took place Friday night at the Olympia Theater in Paris. The win for Four Daughters comes in the midst of final Oscar voting, which runs until 5 p.m. Pt on Tuesday.
As she accepted the award, Tunisian-born Ben Hania turned her attention to the situation in Gaza, which Israel invaded after the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed an estimated 1,200 men, women and children and in which Hamas seized more than 240 hostages (roughly a quarter of the hostages are believed dead). The Ministry of Health in Gaza says more than 10,000 Palestinian children have been killed since the start of Israel’s bombing and ground campaign in Gaza.
Director Kaouther Ben Hania and producer...
- 2/24/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated with reaction from documentary nominees. In an Oscar stunner, two films considered a lock for nominations failed to be recognized Tuesday morning in the Best Documentary Feature category: American Symphony and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.
Instead, a group of five internationally focused documentaries earned nominations: National Geographic’s Bobi Wine: The People’s President, The Eternal Memory, Four Daughters, To Kill a Tiger, and 20 Days in Mariupol.
Kaouther Ben Hania, the Tunisian director of Four Daughters told Deadline this morning, “We live in a world where everything is linked so people are interested what happened in Tunisia and Uganda [where Bobi Wine takes place]. It’s just amazing. It proves that we live in a world where people are more curious, more international, more open.”
Related: Cillian Murphy On Best Actor ‘Oppenheimer’ Oscar Nomination: “I Feel Really Privileged And Lucky To Be In A Film That’s Connected With People”
Documentary branch voters,...
Instead, a group of five internationally focused documentaries earned nominations: National Geographic’s Bobi Wine: The People’s President, The Eternal Memory, Four Daughters, To Kill a Tiger, and 20 Days in Mariupol.
Kaouther Ben Hania, the Tunisian director of Four Daughters told Deadline this morning, “We live in a world where everything is linked so people are interested what happened in Tunisia and Uganda [where Bobi Wine takes place]. It’s just amazing. It proves that we live in a world where people are more curious, more international, more open.”
Related: Cillian Murphy On Best Actor ‘Oppenheimer’ Oscar Nomination: “I Feel Really Privileged And Lucky To Be In A Film That’s Connected With People”
Documentary branch voters,...
- 1/23/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Oscar documentary branch voters can’t be accused of parochialism. They ventured far and wide to select their shortlist of feature documentaries for 2023, tapping films from countries as varied as a U.N. roll call: Ukraine, Uganda, Poland, Denmark, Tunisia, Canada and the United States.
To Kill a Tiger, one of the 15 finalists, unfolds in a village in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Nisha Pahuja, who was born in India and raised in Canada, directed the film about a humble couple who fight for justice after their 13-year-old daughter is sexually assaulted by three men. Before the shortlist was announced, Pahuja wondered whether doc branch members would embrace her documentary. “It’s a Canadian film, but it’s an Indian story,” she said, “and it’s subtitled.”
Pahuja needn’t have worried. Neither subtitles nor remote settings deter today’s documentary branch, whose membership is far less insular than it used to be.
To Kill a Tiger, one of the 15 finalists, unfolds in a village in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Nisha Pahuja, who was born in India and raised in Canada, directed the film about a humble couple who fight for justice after their 13-year-old daughter is sexually assaulted by three men. Before the shortlist was announced, Pahuja wondered whether doc branch members would embrace her documentary. “It’s a Canadian film, but it’s an Indian story,” she said, “and it’s subtitled.”
Pahuja needn’t have worried. Neither subtitles nor remote settings deter today’s documentary branch, whose membership is far less insular than it used to be.
- 1/14/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania crafts a unique docudrama look at a family torn apart when two daughters leave to join the Islamic State
Four Daughters, a surreal blend of documentary, memory, meta-fictional re-enactment and therapy now shortlisted for an Oscar, originated years ago: in 2016, when a Tunisian woman named Olfa Hamrouni took to local news to call out her country’s failure to combat the scourge of Isis. And the year before that, when her two radicalized eldest daughters, Ghofrane and Rahma Chikhaoui, fled to join the group in Libya. And the years before that, when Hamrouni struggled to raise her four daughters – the two eldest, rebellious and fiery; the two youngest, keen sponges of conflict – with an iron fist and a housekeeper’s salary.
Hamrouni first caught the eye of Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania on the news, pleading with authorities to repatriate her daughters from a Libyan...
Four Daughters, a surreal blend of documentary, memory, meta-fictional re-enactment and therapy now shortlisted for an Oscar, originated years ago: in 2016, when a Tunisian woman named Olfa Hamrouni took to local news to call out her country’s failure to combat the scourge of Isis. And the year before that, when her two radicalized eldest daughters, Ghofrane and Rahma Chikhaoui, fled to join the group in Libya. And the years before that, when Hamrouni struggled to raise her four daughters – the two eldest, rebellious and fiery; the two youngest, keen sponges of conflict – with an iron fist and a housekeeper’s salary.
Hamrouni first caught the eye of Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania on the news, pleading with authorities to repatriate her daughters from a Libyan...
- 1/10/2024
- by Adrian Horton
- The Guardian - Film News
Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa) director Kaouther Ben Hania on Olfa Hamrouni, Eya Chikhaoui, Tayssir Chikhaoui, Ichrak Matar, Nour Karoui, and Hind Sabri: “I already have a rich gallery of female characters. So to simplify and have the focus on the female characters, I thought that the men can be played by one actor (Majd Mastoura) and I wanted to experiment with this idea.”
In the second instalment with Kaouther Ben Hania on Tunisia’s now Best International Feature Film and Documentary Oscar shortlisted Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa) we discussed her three natural-born storytellers (Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters Eya Chikhaoui and Tayssir Chikhaoui), experimenting with one actor (Majd Mastoura) portraying multiple male characters, loving clichés, and colours. Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin had received a Best International Film Oscar nomination in 2021 and her intense and unwavering Beauty And The Dogs (Aala Kaf Ifrit...
In the second instalment with Kaouther Ben Hania on Tunisia’s now Best International Feature Film and Documentary Oscar shortlisted Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa) we discussed her three natural-born storytellers (Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters Eya Chikhaoui and Tayssir Chikhaoui), experimenting with one actor (Majd Mastoura) portraying multiple male characters, loving clichés, and colours. Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin had received a Best International Film Oscar nomination in 2021 and her intense and unwavering Beauty And The Dogs (Aala Kaf Ifrit...
- 12/22/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
As the voting window for the Oscar shortlists approaches, Academy members are considering Kaouther Ben Hania’s film Four Daughters in not one, but two categories: Best Documentary Film and Best International Feature.
In August, Tunisia selected Ben Hania’s documentary as its official entry for International Film, the third time the director has been chosen for that honor, following 2017’s Beauty and the Dogs and 2020’s The Man Who Sold His Skin, which went on to earn an Oscar nomination. Both of those earlier films were narrative dramas, and there are dramatic elements in Four Daughters: Ben Hania enlisted three actresses to participate in her documentary.
Olfa Hamrouni, protagonist of ‘Four Daughters,’ at the Cannes Film Festival.
Four Daughters tells the story of Olfa, a working-class Tunisian woman who raised four girls: Ghofrane, Rahma, Eya, and Tayssir. After the Arab Spring led to the ouster of Tunisia’s...
In August, Tunisia selected Ben Hania’s documentary as its official entry for International Film, the third time the director has been chosen for that honor, following 2017’s Beauty and the Dogs and 2020’s The Man Who Sold His Skin, which went on to earn an Oscar nomination. Both of those earlier films were narrative dramas, and there are dramatic elements in Four Daughters: Ben Hania enlisted three actresses to participate in her documentary.
Olfa Hamrouni, protagonist of ‘Four Daughters,’ at the Cannes Film Festival.
Four Daughters tells the story of Olfa, a working-class Tunisian woman who raised four girls: Ghofrane, Rahma, Eya, and Tayssir. After the Arab Spring led to the ouster of Tunisia’s...
- 11/27/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers from Focus Features pulled in an estimated $200k on six screens in New York and LA for a per-screen average of $33.3k, a good limited opening on an upbeat specialty weekend that also saw A24’s Priscilla by Sofia Coppola off to a fine start.
We’re in anomalous times with the ongoing actors strike. The Holdovers will benefit in expansion if the work stoppage ends. Priscilla less since it has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement — although a rising tide lifts all boats.
SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP are working, with both sides taking “a deep dive” into the issues in an attempt to end the 100+-day strike. The guild was awaiting a response from studios to its latest proposal.
One distributor noted that weekend festivities for Halloween (which falls on Tuesday) can pinch the weekend specialty box office a bit, especially Saturday.
The Holdovers, which premiered at Telluride,...
We’re in anomalous times with the ongoing actors strike. The Holdovers will benefit in expansion if the work stoppage ends. Priscilla less since it has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement — although a rising tide lifts all boats.
SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP are working, with both sides taking “a deep dive” into the issues in an attempt to end the 100+-day strike. The guild was awaiting a response from studios to its latest proposal.
One distributor noted that weekend festivities for Halloween (which falls on Tuesday) can pinch the weekend specialty box office a bit, especially Saturday.
The Holdovers, which premiered at Telluride,...
- 10/29/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Independents are out in force with high-profile fall festival fare from Pricilla to The Holdovers, a big Viva Pictures push with Inspector Sun (voiced by Ronny Chieng), Cannes documentary winner Four Daughters and Waikiki, the debut feature by Hawaiian filmmaker Christopher Kahunahana. the first homegrown feature to be shown there.
Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla from A24 is playing New York and Los Angeles this weekend including sold out Q&a’s with the director and star Cailee Spaeny, Best Actress winner at the Venice Film Festival where Priscilla premiered, see Deadline review. Jacob Elordi stars as Elvis.
The story of the singer’s romantic partner and only wife told from her perspective is based on the book Elvis And Me by Priscilla Presley following her early years as a teenage army brat stationed in West Germany to her surreal arrival at Graceland. Rolls out nationwide next week.
Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla from A24 is playing New York and Los Angeles this weekend including sold out Q&a’s with the director and star Cailee Spaeny, Best Actress winner at the Venice Film Festival where Priscilla premiered, see Deadline review. Jacob Elordi stars as Elvis.
The story of the singer’s romantic partner and only wife told from her perspective is based on the book Elvis And Me by Priscilla Presley following her early years as a teenage army brat stationed in West Germany to her surreal arrival at Graceland. Rolls out nationwide next week.
- 10/27/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Leave Them to Heaven: Ben Hania Experiments with Form in Anguishing Roleplay
For her sixth feature, Four Daughters, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania takes a peculiar approach in examining a familial tragedy. Olfa Hamrouni, the mother of the titular four daughters, appears as herself in a project by Ben Hania meant to be a simultaneous reenactment and documentary regarding the radicalization of her two eldest daughters, Rahma and Gofrane, both arrested after the US military bombarded an Islamist State hideout in Sabratha in 2016. Ben Hania also appears as herself, announcing to Olfa and her two youngest daughters, Aya and Tayssir, the three of them would be playing themselves in a series of reproduced moments alongside actors hired to portray their missing siblings.…...
For her sixth feature, Four Daughters, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania takes a peculiar approach in examining a familial tragedy. Olfa Hamrouni, the mother of the titular four daughters, appears as herself in a project by Ben Hania meant to be a simultaneous reenactment and documentary regarding the radicalization of her two eldest daughters, Rahma and Gofrane, both arrested after the US military bombarded an Islamist State hideout in Sabratha in 2016. Ben Hania also appears as herself, announcing to Olfa and her two youngest daughters, Aya and Tayssir, the three of them would be playing themselves in a series of reproduced moments alongside actors hired to portray their missing siblings.…...
- 10/27/2023
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Co-winner of the Cannes 2023 Golden Eye, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters is both compellingly crafted and deeply disturbing. The “fictional documentary” looks back on an infamous, winding and tumultuous Tunisian saga involving five women: the titular quartet of older siblings Ghofrane and Rahma and youngest Eya and Tayssir, along with their mother Olfa Hamrouni. The younger daughters appear as themselves, and the film features two actors taking on the roles of the oldest, a necessity since Ghofrane and Rahma can’t “play” themselves, having “disappeared” back in 2015 at the tender ages of […]
The post “A Journey That Allowed Us to Harness the Power of Storytelling”: Kaouther Ben Hania on her Cannes-winning Four Daughters first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “A Journey That Allowed Us to Harness the Power of Storytelling”: Kaouther Ben Hania on her Cannes-winning Four Daughters first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 10/27/2023
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Co-winner of the Cannes 2023 Golden Eye, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters is both compellingly crafted and deeply disturbing. The “fictional documentary” looks back on an infamous, winding and tumultuous Tunisian saga involving five women: the titular quartet of older siblings Ghofrane and Rahma and youngest Eya and Tayssir, along with their mother Olfa Hamrouni. The younger daughters appear as themselves, and the film features two actors taking on the roles of the oldest, a necessity since Ghofrane and Rahma can’t “play” themselves, having “disappeared” back in 2015 at the tender ages of […]
The post “A Journey That Allowed Us to Harness the Power of Storytelling”: Kaouther Ben Hania on her Cannes-winning Four Daughters first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “A Journey That Allowed Us to Harness the Power of Storytelling”: Kaouther Ben Hania on her Cannes-winning Four Daughters first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 10/27/2023
- by Lauren Wissot
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Inserting yourself into the story you’re telling is always a risk. Kaouther Ben Hania, the director of Four Daughters, makes herself known in her docu-fiction experiment, seen coaching to some extent her subjects. The film moving between the rooms of their family home and a backstage setting with makeup being applied (perhaps admitting to the surprisingly glossy look of much of the film), it readily anticipates criticism of itself for exploitation. Though lining a couch for much of the runtime, our five subjects are very comfortable in front of the camera, and you kind of just trust them.
Sharing a title with Curtiz but not shaming it, in Armond terms, Four Daughters is definitely an admirable, if uneven experiment. A teary tone is set from near the beginning and it’s hard not to be at least a little moved; two of the four daughters in this family have...
Sharing a title with Curtiz but not shaming it, in Armond terms, Four Daughters is definitely an admirable, if uneven experiment. A teary tone is set from near the beginning and it’s hard not to be at least a little moved; two of the four daughters in this family have...
- 10/26/2023
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
For filmmakers, few honors can compare to premiering a movie in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. And for fans of international cinema around the world, seeing a Cannes hit opening in theaters after a long wait can be one of the most exciting moviegoing events of the year. This weekend promises to bring such a treat to New York moviegoers, as Kaouther Ben Hania’s Tunisian metafictional documentary “Four Daughters” makes its way to select theaters.
The film tells the story of Olfa Hamrouni, a Tunisian woman who lost contact with two of her daughters when they left to join Isis. Hania documents the story of the family’s dissolution by casting two professional actors to play the estranged daughters. The narrative device invokes classic metafictional documentaries such as Abbas Kiarostami’s “Close-Up” by simultaneously telling a story and prompting viewers to question the reliability of the film in front of them.
The film tells the story of Olfa Hamrouni, a Tunisian woman who lost contact with two of her daughters when they left to join Isis. Hania documents the story of the family’s dissolution by casting two professional actors to play the estranged daughters. The narrative device invokes classic metafictional documentaries such as Abbas Kiarostami’s “Close-Up” by simultaneously telling a story and prompting viewers to question the reliability of the film in front of them.
- 10/24/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Kaouther Ben Hania on Tunisia’s Oscar submission Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa): “It’s a movie about real people but it’s also a reality that doesn’t exist outside this movie.”
Kaouther Ben Hania in Four Daughters tells the story of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters. Eya Chikhaoui and Tayssir Chikhaoui, the two youngest, are with their mother, while the two oldest Ghofrane Chikaoui and Rahma Chikhaoui are imprisoned in Libya for terrorism charges. In the film they are portrayed by actors Ichrak Matar and Nour Karoui respectively, and the mother finds herself doubled as well, by actress Hind Sabri, for scenes that, as the director explains in the hybrid documentary, might be too upsetting for Olfa to relive. Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin had received a Best International Film Oscar nomination in 2021 and her intense and unwavering Beauty And The Dogs.
Kaouther Ben Hania in Four Daughters tells the story of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters. Eya Chikhaoui and Tayssir Chikhaoui, the two youngest, are with their mother, while the two oldest Ghofrane Chikaoui and Rahma Chikhaoui are imprisoned in Libya for terrorism charges. In the film they are portrayed by actors Ichrak Matar and Nour Karoui respectively, and the mother finds herself doubled as well, by actress Hind Sabri, for scenes that, as the director explains in the hybrid documentary, might be too upsetting for Olfa to relive. Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin had received a Best International Film Oscar nomination in 2021 and her intense and unwavering Beauty And The Dogs.
- 10/22/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The documentary festival Doc NYC has unveiled the full lineup for its 14th edition. It will be a total of 114 features and 129 short films. The festival runs in-person November 8-16 at IFC Center, Sva Theatre and Village East by Angelika and continues online through November 26 with films available to viewers across the U.S.
The Short Lists sections showcase a selection of nonfiction features and shorts that the festival’s programming team considers to be among the year’s strongest contenders for Oscars and other awards. The Winner’s Circle are films already feted at major international film events while Come As You Are section highlights films about people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities.
Short List: Features
20 Days In Mariupol
Director: Mstyslav Chernov
Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden
An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the...
The Short Lists sections showcase a selection of nonfiction features and shorts that the festival’s programming team considers to be among the year’s strongest contenders for Oscars and other awards. The Winner’s Circle are films already feted at major international film events while Come As You Are section highlights films about people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities.
Short List: Features
20 Days In Mariupol
Director: Mstyslav Chernov
Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath, Derl McCrudden
An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the...
- 10/18/2023
- by Armando Tinoco
- Deadline Film + TV
PBS’ “20 Days in Mariupol,” IFC’s “The Disappearance of Shere Hite” and MTV’s “The Eternal Memory” are among Doc NYC’s 14th edition featuring 114 features and 129 short films.
The shortlist for Doc NYC, the largest documentary festival in the U.S., was launched in 2012 and has become a key indicator and predictor for the Academy Awards’ best documentary feature category. Ten out of the last 11 winners for documentary feature were screened at the festival. In addition, 12 of the 15 shortlisted docs from 2022 were among its lineup.
Some other notable inclusions are Julie Cohen’s moving “Every Body” about the generation of intersex people living among us, Lisa Cortés’ “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” an intimate look at the queer rock ‘n’ roll legend, and Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony,” an emotional look into the life of singer Jon Batiste as he prepares for his performance at Carnegie Hall.
The festival runs from Nov.
The shortlist for Doc NYC, the largest documentary festival in the U.S., was launched in 2012 and has become a key indicator and predictor for the Academy Awards’ best documentary feature category. Ten out of the last 11 winners for documentary feature were screened at the festival. In addition, 12 of the 15 shortlisted docs from 2022 were among its lineup.
Some other notable inclusions are Julie Cohen’s moving “Every Body” about the generation of intersex people living among us, Lisa Cortés’ “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” an intimate look at the queer rock ‘n’ roll legend, and Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony,” an emotional look into the life of singer Jon Batiste as he prepares for his performance at Carnegie Hall.
The festival runs from Nov.
- 10/17/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Doc NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, on Tuesday announced its lineup in the short and feature categories, as well as for its Winner’s Circle category and its new section for 2023 titled Come As You Are.
All shortlisted films will have theatrical screenings at the festival. With Tuesday’s announcement, Doc NYC will present a total of 114 features and 129 short films in its 14th year, including 33 world premieres and 29 U.S. premieres.
The festival will run this year Nov. 8-16 at IFC Center, Sva Theatre and Village East Angelika in New York, and will run online through Nov. 26.
The festival’s new Come As You Are section features films about “people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities,” according to the festival. The Doc NYC Short List for documentary features was launched in 2012. For 10 of the last 11 years, the festival has screened doc features...
All shortlisted films will have theatrical screenings at the festival. With Tuesday’s announcement, Doc NYC will present a total of 114 features and 129 short films in its 14th year, including 33 world premieres and 29 U.S. premieres.
The festival will run this year Nov. 8-16 at IFC Center, Sva Theatre and Village East Angelika in New York, and will run online through Nov. 26.
The festival’s new Come As You Are section features films about “people striving to find their place in the world, or in their communities,” according to the festival. The Doc NYC Short List for documentary features was launched in 2012. For 10 of the last 11 years, the festival has screened doc features...
- 10/17/2023
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/8/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/8/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/6/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Tunisia has picked Kaouther Ben Hania’s documentary Four Daughters, which debuted in competition in Cannes this year, as its entry for the 2024 Oscars in the best international feature category.
The film focuses on a mother, Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, two of which disappeared as teenagers, with evidence suggesting they had left to join Islamic State in Libya. Ben Hania hired professional actresses to play the two missing daughters, who interact with the rest of the family, creating a docu-fiction hybrid, as a way of exploring the family’s trauma. Four Daughters won the Golden Eye prize for the best documentary in Cannes, sharing it with Asmae El Moudir’s film The Mother of All Lies. Four Daughters will also be submitted to the Oscars in the best documentary category.
Ben Hania’s last film, the drama The Man Who Sold His Skin, which premiered in Venice in...
The film focuses on a mother, Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, two of which disappeared as teenagers, with evidence suggesting they had left to join Islamic State in Libya. Ben Hania hired professional actresses to play the two missing daughters, who interact with the rest of the family, creating a docu-fiction hybrid, as a way of exploring the family’s trauma. Four Daughters won the Golden Eye prize for the best documentary in Cannes, sharing it with Asmae El Moudir’s film The Mother of All Lies. Four Daughters will also be submitted to the Oscars in the best documentary category.
Ben Hania’s last film, the drama The Man Who Sold His Skin, which premiered in Venice in...
- 9/1/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/1/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Kaouther Ben Hania’s heartbreaking Tunisian documentary Four Daughters has taken the top prize of best international film at the 2023 Munich International Film Festival.
The film tells the story of Olfa Hamrouni, a Tunisian mother whose two eldest daughters left the country to join the Islamic State in Libya, never to be seen again. In her exploration of Hamrouni’s story, Ben Hania hires two actors to play Olfa’s missing daughters. The docu-drama hybrid premiered in Cannes, where it won the Golden Eye for best documentary (shared with Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies).
Another hybrid feature from Cannes, The Buriti Flower, took Munich’s CineVision Award for best international emerging director for helmers João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora. The film, made in close collaboration with the Krahô people of Brazil, is a fusion of ethnography and poetic narrative, exploring the group’s tribal memories.
The film tells the story of Olfa Hamrouni, a Tunisian mother whose two eldest daughters left the country to join the Islamic State in Libya, never to be seen again. In her exploration of Hamrouni’s story, Ben Hania hires two actors to play Olfa’s missing daughters. The docu-drama hybrid premiered in Cannes, where it won the Golden Eye for best documentary (shared with Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies).
Another hybrid feature from Cannes, The Buriti Flower, took Munich’s CineVision Award for best international emerging director for helmers João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora. The film, made in close collaboration with the Krahô people of Brazil, is a fusion of ethnography and poetic narrative, exploring the group’s tribal memories.
- 7/1/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Further international deals announced by The Party Film Sales.
Kino Lorber has acquired US rights to Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters which won the L’Oeil d’Or Award for best documentary in Cannes last month.
‘Four Daughters’: Cannes Review
The film distributor plans an ongoing international festival circuit run prior to a theatrical release in autumn, followed by a digital and home video release.
The sole Arab film in Competition on the Croisette, Four Daughters explores rebellion, memory, and reconstructs the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters as it unpacks a complex family history...
Kino Lorber has acquired US rights to Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters which won the L’Oeil d’Or Award for best documentary in Cannes last month.
‘Four Daughters’: Cannes Review
The film distributor plans an ongoing international festival circuit run prior to a theatrical release in autumn, followed by a digital and home video release.
The sole Arab film in Competition on the Croisette, Four Daughters explores rebellion, memory, and reconstructs the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters as it unpacks a complex family history...
- 6/22/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters,” winner of the L’Oeil d’Or Award for best documentary at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, has been acquired for U.S. distribution. Kino Lorber will open the film theatrically this Fall, following stops on the international festival circuit, and followed by a digital and home video release on all major platforms.
“Four Daughters” was the sole Arab film in Main Competition at Cannes this year, and Sharon Waxman of TheWrap wrote that it “takes us into the intimate, inner circle of family ties to tell a larger story of our time.” The picture concerns the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters, detailing a family history through interviews and reenactments to deconstruct how the two eldest kids were radicalized to the point of joining Isis.
“We were immediately captivated by Kaouther Ben Hania’s powerful documentary Four Daughters, a...
“Four Daughters” was the sole Arab film in Main Competition at Cannes this year, and Sharon Waxman of TheWrap wrote that it “takes us into the intimate, inner circle of family ties to tell a larger story of our time.” The picture concerns the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters, detailing a family history through interviews and reenactments to deconstruct how the two eldest kids were radicalized to the point of joining Isis.
“We were immediately captivated by Kaouther Ben Hania’s powerful documentary Four Daughters, a...
- 6/22/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
Kino Lorber has acquired the U.S. rights to Tunisian director and Oscar nominee Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, which shared the L’Oeil d’Or Award for best documentary at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Cannes competition entry, which uses professional actors to help re-enact one family’s devastating experience of loss, will open theatrically this fall, followed by a digital and home video release on major platforms.
“Ben Hania casts accomplished actors to perform alongside her real-life documentary subjects, adding a layer of complexity that gives agency to her collaborators and mines truth from the space it occupies between fact and memory. We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring this groundbreaking documentary to U.S. audiences this fall,” Wendy Lidell, senior vp theatrical distribution and acquisitions at Kino Lorber, said Thursday in a statement.
Four Daughters is written and directed by Ben Hania, whose 2020 film The Man Who Sold His Skin...
The Cannes competition entry, which uses professional actors to help re-enact one family’s devastating experience of loss, will open theatrically this fall, followed by a digital and home video release on major platforms.
“Ben Hania casts accomplished actors to perform alongside her real-life documentary subjects, adding a layer of complexity that gives agency to her collaborators and mines truth from the space it occupies between fact and memory. We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring this groundbreaking documentary to U.S. audiences this fall,” Wendy Lidell, senior vp theatrical distribution and acquisitions at Kino Lorber, said Thursday in a statement.
Four Daughters is written and directed by Ben Hania, whose 2020 film The Man Who Sold His Skin...
- 6/22/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. rights to “Four Daughters,” Kaouther Ben Hania’s film which competed at the Cannes Film Festival.
The competition’s sole Arab film, “Four Daughters” mixes documentary and fiction to tell the story of a Tunisian mother whose two elder daughters joined Isis. It won L’Oeil d’or or “Golden Eye” Award at Cannes for best documentary and is now set to roll off into the international festival circuit. Kino Lorber plans to release it theatrically this fall, followed by a digital and home video release on all major platforms.
The New York-based distribution company has high hopes for “Four Daughters” during the next awards season. Last year’s L’Oeil d’Or winner, “All That Breathes,” went on to earn an Oscar nomination for best documentary. Ben Hania previously earned an Oscar nomination with her 2020 film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” in the international feature film category.
The competition’s sole Arab film, “Four Daughters” mixes documentary and fiction to tell the story of a Tunisian mother whose two elder daughters joined Isis. It won L’Oeil d’or or “Golden Eye” Award at Cannes for best documentary and is now set to roll off into the international festival circuit. Kino Lorber plans to release it theatrically this fall, followed by a digital and home video release on all major platforms.
The New York-based distribution company has high hopes for “Four Daughters” during the next awards season. Last year’s L’Oeil d’Or winner, “All That Breathes,” went on to earn an Oscar nomination for best documentary. Ben Hania previously earned an Oscar nomination with her 2020 film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” in the international feature film category.
- 6/22/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Two documentaries by Arab women directors have jointly won this year’s L’Oeil d’or (Golden Eye) award for best documentary at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters and The Mother of All Lies from first-time Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir were announced as this year’s best documentary winners at a ceremony in Cannes on Saturday.
Both films use experimental cinematic techniques to explore stories of trauma from their home countries. In The Mother of All Lies, El Moudir explores her family’s history and the stories and lies told surrounding the upheaval and violence of the 1981 Bread Riots in Casablanca. With no archive footage or even photographs, to draw on, she painstakingly recreates, from memory, her family’s old apartment and the old Casablanca neighborhood in the form of a miniature set on a soundstage, with figurines to represent her family members.
Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters and The Mother of All Lies from first-time Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir were announced as this year’s best documentary winners at a ceremony in Cannes on Saturday.
Both films use experimental cinematic techniques to explore stories of trauma from their home countries. In The Mother of All Lies, El Moudir explores her family’s history and the stories and lies told surrounding the upheaval and violence of the 1981 Bread Riots in Casablanca. With no archive footage or even photographs, to draw on, she painstakingly recreates, from memory, her family’s old apartment and the old Casablanca neighborhood in the form of a miniature set on a soundstage, with figurines to represent her family members.
- 5/27/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Two films by Arab women directors are sharing the L’Oeil d’or (Golden Eye) prize for the best documentary in Cannes. Four Daughters (Les Filles d’Olfa) by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania and The Mother of All Lies (La Mère de tous les mensonges) by Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir were announced as the winners at a joint ceremony this morning at the Palais in Cannes.
“It’s huge,” Ben Hania told Deadline after the announcement. “I’m very happy and I’m also very happy to share this prize with Asmae from Morocco. And I think that it means something for the region, for the storytellers, for us women directors… It’s so special.”
Both Ben Hania and El Moudir were on hand for the presentation at the Salon des Ambassadeurs. It the second prize in two days for El Moudir. On Thursday, she won best director in...
“It’s huge,” Ben Hania told Deadline after the announcement. “I’m very happy and I’m also very happy to share this prize with Asmae from Morocco. And I think that it means something for the region, for the storytellers, for us women directors… It’s so special.”
Both Ben Hania and El Moudir were on hand for the presentation at the Salon des Ambassadeurs. It the second prize in two days for El Moudir. On Thursday, she won best director in...
- 5/27/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Cannes: Docudramas are inherently difficult to master. You’re attempting to meld real-life footage or people with actors and, often, fictionalized accounts that may substantially differ from the truth. In the case of “Four Daughters,” director and screenwriter Kaouther Ben Hania has succeeded in mastering the genre but, notably, by the slimmest of margins. It helps that her subject and source material are compelling enough to overcome the movie’s flaws.
Read More: “The Zone of Interest” Review: Jonathan Glazer’s often brilliant examination of human complicity [Cannes]
The follow-up to Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated 2020 narrative film, “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” her latest endeavor begins with Olfa Hamrouni and her two twentysomething daughters, Eya Chikahoui and Tayssir Chikhaoui, waiting in a production office or maybe a makeup studio or, possibly, just a room (it’s never really clarified) somewhere in Tunis, Tunisia.
Continue reading ‘Four Daughters’ Cannes Review: A...
Read More: “The Zone of Interest” Review: Jonathan Glazer’s often brilliant examination of human complicity [Cannes]
The follow-up to Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated 2020 narrative film, “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” her latest endeavor begins with Olfa Hamrouni and her two twentysomething daughters, Eya Chikahoui and Tayssir Chikhaoui, waiting in a production office or maybe a makeup studio or, possibly, just a room (it’s never really clarified) somewhere in Tunis, Tunisia.
Continue reading ‘Four Daughters’ Cannes Review: A...
- 5/25/2023
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
Oscar-nominated Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s powerful drama “Four Daughters” which mixes documentary and fiction to tell the story of a Tunisian mother whose two elder daughters joined Isis is scoring a slew of sales following its well-received Cannes competition premiere.
French company The Party Films Sales has sealed deals on “Four Daughters” for: Benelux (Cineart); Spain (Caramel Films); Italy (I Wonder); Switzerland (Trigon); Sweden (Triart); Denmark (Camera Film); Norway (Arthaus); Finland (Cinemanse); Poland (New Horizons); Greece (Ama Films); former Yougoslavia (Discovery) and Turkey (Bir Film).
Rights to the film for multiple other territories are under negotiations, the company said.
Ben Hania – whose previous works comprise “Beauty and the Dogs” and “The Man Who Sold His Skin” – in “Four Daughters” delves into the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni who rose to international prominence in April 2016 when she publicized the radicalization of her two teenage daughters who had left Tunisia to fight with Isis.
French company The Party Films Sales has sealed deals on “Four Daughters” for: Benelux (Cineart); Spain (Caramel Films); Italy (I Wonder); Switzerland (Trigon); Sweden (Triart); Denmark (Camera Film); Norway (Arthaus); Finland (Cinemanse); Poland (New Horizons); Greece (Ama Films); former Yougoslavia (Discovery) and Turkey (Bir Film).
Rights to the film for multiple other territories are under negotiations, the company said.
Ben Hania – whose previous works comprise “Beauty and the Dogs” and “The Man Who Sold His Skin” – in “Four Daughters” delves into the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni who rose to international prominence in April 2016 when she publicized the radicalization of her two teenage daughters who had left Tunisia to fight with Isis.
- 5/24/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Kaouther Ben Hania, the Oscar-nominated director of “The Man Who Sold His Skin” whose latest film “Four Daughters” is competing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will next direct “Mimesis,” an epic love story set in Tunisia.
While the plot is under wraps, the story is set in two different periods, the 1990s and the 1940s, paying tribute to cinema and Arab-Muslim cultural heritage. It’s being produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha at Tanit Films, who produced Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” and her previous film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” which world premiered at Venice where it won best actor for Yahya Mahayni and was nominated for best international film at the Oscars in 2021.
Mahayn starred in the film as a Syrian refugee who accepts to have a large Schengen visa, the document he desperately needs to enter Europe, tattooed on his back by a famous artist, thus...
While the plot is under wraps, the story is set in two different periods, the 1990s and the 1940s, paying tribute to cinema and Arab-Muslim cultural heritage. It’s being produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha at Tanit Films, who produced Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” and her previous film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” which world premiered at Venice where it won best actor for Yahya Mahayni and was nominated for best international film at the Oscars in 2021.
Mahayn starred in the film as a Syrian refugee who accepts to have a large Schengen visa, the document he desperately needs to enter Europe, tattooed on his back by a famous artist, thus...
- 5/21/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Actors and real people re-enact the past to understand why two daughters left Tunisia to fight for Is in Syria, leaving the rest of the family behind
There is real emotional warmth and human sympathy in this otherwise somewhat flawed film, a docudrama experiment in getting actors to play some of the real people in a tragic news story from Tunisia. Olfa Hamrouni, a divorced woman from the coastal town of Sousse, made the headlines seven years ago when two of her four daughters, Rahma and Ghofrane, broke her and their sisters’ hearts by vanishing from the country to become fighters and wives for Islamic State in Syria. Now director Kaouther Ben Hania re-enacts key parts of Olfa’s family life, featuring the remaining sisters Eya and Tayssir playing themselves, but performers playing the vanished fugitives: Ichraq Matar is Ghofrane and Nour Karoui is Rahma.
Despite the fact that she hasn’t vanished,...
There is real emotional warmth and human sympathy in this otherwise somewhat flawed film, a docudrama experiment in getting actors to play some of the real people in a tragic news story from Tunisia. Olfa Hamrouni, a divorced woman from the coastal town of Sousse, made the headlines seven years ago when two of her four daughters, Rahma and Ghofrane, broke her and their sisters’ hearts by vanishing from the country to become fighters and wives for Islamic State in Syria. Now director Kaouther Ben Hania re-enacts key parts of Olfa’s family life, featuring the remaining sisters Eya and Tayssir playing themselves, but performers playing the vanished fugitives: Ichraq Matar is Ghofrane and Nour Karoui is Rahma.
Despite the fact that she hasn’t vanished,...
- 5/20/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Using actors to bring to life story elements within documentary film is becoming a more widespread practice, if one that’s still viewed with skepticism by some purists.
The films of Robert Greene spring to mind – Kate Plays Christine and Procession, for instance – and Kitty Green’s Casting JonBenet. Errol Morris cast Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Blake Nelson, Bob Balaban and other stars to dramatize extended sequences in Wormwood, and famously used actors in the critical murder scene reenactment in the The Thin Blue Line.
The technique achieves a new level of artistry and organic relevance in Kaouther Ben Hania’s documentary Four Daughters (Les Filles d’Olfa), which premiered tonight in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The Tunisian director cast actresses to play Olfa Hamrouni and her two eldest daughters, Rahma and Ghofrane, who as teenagers abruptly disappeared from the family home after becoming attached to radical Islamist ideology. Only...
The films of Robert Greene spring to mind – Kate Plays Christine and Procession, for instance – and Kitty Green’s Casting JonBenet. Errol Morris cast Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Blake Nelson, Bob Balaban and other stars to dramatize extended sequences in Wormwood, and famously used actors in the critical murder scene reenactment in the The Thin Blue Line.
The technique achieves a new level of artistry and organic relevance in Kaouther Ben Hania’s documentary Four Daughters (Les Filles d’Olfa), which premiered tonight in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The Tunisian director cast actresses to play Olfa Hamrouni and her two eldest daughters, Rahma and Ghofrane, who as teenagers abruptly disappeared from the family home after becoming attached to radical Islamist ideology. Only...
- 5/19/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Kaouther Ben Hania’s heartbreaking Four Daughters (Les filles d’Olfa) pulls you in with a question: Who is Olfa Hamrouni?
She rose to international fame in 2016 when she criticized the Tunisian government for not preventing her daughters from joining the Islamic State in Libya. In interviews from those years, Hamrouni is a bereaved mother. Her voice aches with pain as she recounts the loss of her two eldest daughters, and it shakes with anger when she speaks of the government’s listless response.
The Olfa of Ben Hania’s docu-fiction strikes a more relaxed pose. She has traded her pink hijabs for a black scarf, tightly woven around her head. She’s freer with her laughs and more pointed with her asides. Grief still undergirds her anecdotes, but so does a palpable willingness to share. She eagerly explains how she believes a movie about her life will help spread an...
She rose to international fame in 2016 when she criticized the Tunisian government for not preventing her daughters from joining the Islamic State in Libya. In interviews from those years, Hamrouni is a bereaved mother. Her voice aches with pain as she recounts the loss of her two eldest daughters, and it shakes with anger when she speaks of the government’s listless response.
The Olfa of Ben Hania’s docu-fiction strikes a more relaxed pose. She has traded her pink hijabs for a black scarf, tightly woven around her head. She’s freer with her laughs and more pointed with her asides. Grief still undergirds her anecdotes, but so does a palpable willingness to share. She eagerly explains how she believes a movie about her life will help spread an...
- 5/19/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Late on in Kaouther Ben Hania’s compelling, ambitious hybrid “Four Daughters,” Olfa Hamrouni — the film’s focus, its fixation and its most charismatically contradictory character — strokes a purring, heavily pregnant ginger cat. Sometimes, she tells us, a cat will be so scared for her babies that she eats them. It’s Olfa’s covert acknowledgement that her own misguided protective urge, forged by her hard history with men and mother alike, might have contributed to her life’s great, rupturing tragedy: when, in 2015, the elder two of her four girls ran away to join Isis. But it also recalls one of her earlier to-camera segments, when she described her daughters, as though shielding herself from the pain of the real with the language of fable, as having been “devoured by the wolf.” So which is it: Were Ghofran and Rahma, 16 and 15 at the time of their disappearance, eaten up...
- 5/19/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar-nominated Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania is back in Cannes with “Four Daughters” a powerful drama that mixes documentary and fiction to delve into the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni who rose to international prominence in April 2016 when she publicized the radicalization of her two teenage daughters who had left Tunisia to fight with Isis.
The film, which is the only Arab entry in competition, stars Egyptian-Tunisian star Hend Sabri in the lead role of an actor who must play Hamrouni and gets coaching from the real Olfa on how to prepare for the role. Ben Hania spoke to Variety about the bold choice she made.
What drew you to want to dig deep into Olfa’s story?
So it was in 2016, and there was media interest around this story and a lot of similar stories. And I heard the mother giving an interview on the radio. The way she was talking,...
The film, which is the only Arab entry in competition, stars Egyptian-Tunisian star Hend Sabri in the lead role of an actor who must play Hamrouni and gets coaching from the real Olfa on how to prepare for the role. Ben Hania spoke to Variety about the bold choice she made.
What drew you to want to dig deep into Olfa’s story?
So it was in 2016, and there was media interest around this story and a lot of similar stories. And I heard the mother giving an interview on the radio. The way she was talking,...
- 5/19/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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