Spain
70
69th edition. October 18-26, 2024
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The life of Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters, oscillates between light and shadow. One day, her two eldest daughters disappear. To fill their absence, director Kaouther Ben Hania calls upon professional actors and sets up an extraordinary film mechanism to unveil the story of Olfa and her daughters. An intimate journey full of hope, rebellion, violence, intergenerational transmission and sisterhood, which will question the very foundation of our societies.
She studied Cinema at the Tunisian École des Arts et du Cinéma (EDAC), and later in Paris (at La Fémis and La Sorbonne). After directing several short films, she shot the feature-length documentaries ‘Imams go to School’ (2010) and ‘Zaineb Hates the Snow’ (2016, selected in Locarno). Her first fiction feature, ‘Challat of Tunis’ (2013), opened the ACID section of the Cannes Film Festival, and her second, ‘Beauty and the Dogs’ (2017), premiered at Un Certain Regard where it won an award for the best sound creation, before receiving the Meeting Point’s Youth Award at Seminci. Her next work, ‘The Man Who Sold His Skin’ (2020), premiered in Venice and was nominated for an Oscar, while ‘Four Daughters’ (2023) was premiered in Cannes where it won the Golden Eye for the best documentary film of the festival, and will represent Tunisia in the race for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film.
