The 49th Cesar Awards has nominated Four Daughters or Les Filles d’Olfa by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, who has made history by securing her second Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature Film.
The movie is an international collaboration between Saudi Arabia, France, Tunisia, and Germany. It tells the story of a Tunisian mother’s search for answers after her two elder daughters are radicalized and disappear to join ISIS.
Ben Hania was inspired by a news story unfolding in Tunisia and embarked on the journey of crafting Four Daughters in 2016. The movie won the L’Oeil d’Or Award for Best Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival.
Four Daughters is a poignant drama that explores rebellion, memory, and sisterhood. It reconstructs the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters, examining how the two eldest were radicalized and disappeared. The movie captures moments of joy, loss, violence, and heartache through intimate interviews and reenactments. The missing eldest daughters, Ghofrane and Rahma, are portrayed by professional actresses, while Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabri plays the role of Olfa.
The movie, produced by Tanit Films in collaboration with Cinetelefilms and Twenty Twenty, was co-produced with the Red Sea Film Festival Foundation, ZDF/Arte, and Jour2Fête. It is the result of the creative vision of Nadim Cheikhrouha in association with Habib Attia and Thanassis Karathanos.
The Cesar Awards ceremony will occur at Olympia Concert Hall on February 23, 2024.
