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
Absence is at the heart of Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s cleverly constructed and sneakily powerful fiction-documentary hybrid Four Daughters. In the opening images, we see a woman, Olfa, and her two daughters, Eya and Tayssir. Before we can even wonder where the other two daughters implied in the title might be, Hania informs us via voice over that the two eldest, Rahma and Ghofrane, were “devoured by the wolf.”
The meaning of that phrase isn’t revealed until the third act of Ben Hania’s film. But before we get there, Hania tells the story of how and why those two daughters were compelled to abruptly leave home—fracturing a family that, now eight years later, is still recovering—by employing two actors, Nour Karoui and Ichrak Matar, to play Rahma and Ghofrane, respectively, and another, Majd Mastoura, to play various male figures. And in certain scenes that are especially harrowing,...
The meaning of that phrase isn’t revealed until the third act of Ben Hania’s film. But before we get there, Hania tells the story of how and why those two daughters were compelled to abruptly leave home—fracturing a family that, now eight years later, is still recovering—by employing two actors, Nour Karoui and Ichrak Matar, to play Rahma and Ghofrane, respectively, and another, Majd Mastoura, to play various male figures. And in certain scenes that are especially harrowing,...
- 10/23/2023
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
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
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
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
Kirsten Niehuus, CEO at Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, which funds films and TV series production in the Berlin region, and Simone Baumann, managing director of German Films, which promotes and supports the release of German films abroad, welcomed a wide array of guests to their garden party at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.
Three Medienboard-funded films are in this year’s Competition: Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters,” Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero,” and U.S. helmer Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City.”
Niehuus told Variety: “Those are three very different productions, but it shows the spectrum [of films] that Medienboard supports.” Tunisian films, like “Four Daughters,” need international co-production funding to get made, she said, and “we believe in world cinema, so were very happy [to back it].” Hausner is “one of the most impressive female filmmakers [in the world], and I think there should be more female filmmakers on the Croisette and every other ‘A’ festival,...
Three Medienboard-funded films are in this year’s Competition: Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters,” Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero,” and U.S. helmer Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City.”
Niehuus told Variety: “Those are three very different productions, but it shows the spectrum [of films] that Medienboard supports.” Tunisian films, like “Four Daughters,” need international co-production funding to get made, she said, and “we believe in world cinema, so were very happy [to back it].” Hausner is “one of the most impressive female filmmakers [in the world], and I think there should be more female filmmakers on the Croisette and every other ‘A’ festival,...
- 5/22/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
It’s easy to get trapped in circuitous arguments surrounding documentary ethics at the best of times, but Kaouther Ben Hania’s metafictional “Four Daughters” — involving young children, abuse, trauma and re-enactments — appears to chart these knotty waters as a barefaced challenge. This Tunisian entry into Cannes’ Official Competition is a bold behemoth of an undertaking, which is veiled, unveiled and then re-veiled with endless angles and perspectives; it’s a veritable snakepit of uneasy decisions that grips you with its novel approach to so-called truth-telling before lapsing into something a little more conventional. Far from a gamble made in the service of naturalism, this heightened and strange piece of fiction re-enactment exposes itself for critique in a way that you almost have to respect. For its sins, it seems to —just about— succeed.
“Four Daughters” orbits the trauma of a Tunisian woman named Olfa and her youngest daughters, Tayssir and Eya.
“Four Daughters” orbits the trauma of a Tunisian woman named Olfa and her youngest daughters, Tayssir and Eya.
- 5/21/2023
- by Steph Green
- Indiewire
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
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
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