Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania mixes fiction and documentary to capture the story of Olfa Hamrouni, whose older daughters left to fight for the Islamic State in “Four Daughters,” her first entry for the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize.
The only Arab entry in the competition follows Hamrouni, who drew international attention in 2016 for criticizing Tunisian authorities for failing to stop one of her daughters from fleeing to Libya to join her sister in fighting for the Islamic militant group.
For the film, Ben Hania wanted to show Hamrouni’s complexities but noticed she would fall into the well-trodden narrative of a guilt-ridden mother whenever the camera was on.
The director worked around this conditioning by telling Hamrouni she was hiring well-known Tunisian actor Hind Sabri to portray her in a film and Hamrouni would have to prepare her.
Ben Hania also hired actors to play the missing daughters.
Ben Hania walked the red carpet with the real-life Hamrouni and her two daughters, as well as the actors playing the missing daughters and Sabri for the film’s premiere on Friday evening.
Her last film, “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” was the Tunisian entry for best international feature at the 2021 Oscars.
Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.
