LES FILLES D’OLFA / FOUR DAUGHTERS

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania, Tunisia/Germany/France/Saudi Arabia 2023, 107 min, experimental film, OmeU

This is the true story of Olfa, whose daughters Ghofrane and Rahma have left their family, and therefore Tunisia, to fight alongside IS in Libya. Together with her two remaining daughters, Olfa asks herself why. Director Kaouther Ben Hania uses two actresses to bridge the gap between the two absentees and to both relieve and protect the mother. She shoots a documentary about the preparations for a feature film that will never be shot, and in this way helps Olfa to come closer to her true memories. The result is a cinematic piece of reality told with documentary and fictional means.

Kaouther Ben Hania was born in Sidi Bouzid/Tunisia in 1977. She studied film in Tunis and Paris and has released documentaries, short films and feature films: BEAUTY AND THE DOGS (2017) screened at the Cannes International Film Festival and is about a young woman's tireless attempt to report her rape. THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN (2020) was submitted by Tunisia as an entry for the 2021 Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category and was later nominated - the first Tunisian film ever to be nominated. LES FILLES D'OLFA / FOUR DAUGHTERS received the OEil d'Or award for Best Documentary in Cannes.