In April 2016 Olfa Hamrouni raised the alarm. Her two oldest daughters, Rahma and Ghofrane, both still teenagers, had made their way out of Tunisia to fight for the Islamic State — ISIS — in Libya. Olfa was upset that her children had been allowed to flee the country, and terrified about their fate. This rupture remains the defining tragedy of her life and it’s the subject of this invigorating and inventive hybrid docu-drama from Academy Award-nominee Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin; Beauty and the Dogs).
Not content with interviewing Olfa, Ben Hania casts actresses to play her absent daughters, and leading local star Hend Sabrey also appears as Olfa (and alongside her), while the two younger daughters play themselves in reenactments. All the male parts are performed by the same actor. If this stylized, Brechtian approach sounds ambitious, it is — but this audacious, radical and stimulating movie is like a Catherine Wheel, sending out sparks in all directions.
Golden Eye Documentary Award, Cannes 2023
Gripping… sometimes provocative, sometimes moving, and sometimes, unexpectedly, very funny.
Jessica Kiang, Variety
Community Partner
Eya Chikhaoui, Tayssir Chikhaoui, Olfa Hamrouni, Nour Karoui
Tunisia/France/Germany/Saudi Arabia
2023
Showcase
In Arabic with English subtitles
Sexual Violence
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Nadim Cheikhrouha
Screenwriter
Kaouther Ben Hania
Cinematography
Farouk Laaridh
Editor
Qutaiba Barhamji
Production Design
Bessem Marzouk
Original Music
Amin Bouhafa
Director
Kaouther Ben Hania
Kaouther Ben Hania studied filmmaking in Tunis and in Paris (La Fémis and the Sorbonne). The Challat of Tunis, her first feature-length film, opened the ACID section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and achieved international success on both the festival circuit and cinema screens, where it would be distributed in more than 15 countries. Then, she made Zaineb Hates the Snow, which premiered in 2016 as part of the official selection at the 2016 Locarno Film Festival. Her fiction film Beauty and the Dogs was selected at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. Her last film The Man Who Sold His Skin, was nominated at the 2021 Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category
Filmography: The Challat of Tunis (2014); Zaineb Hates the Snow (2016); Beauty and the Dogs (2017); The Man who Sold His Skin (2021)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
The Ice Tower
In Lucile Hadžihalilović's spellbinding fantasy drama, an orphan (Clara Pacini) becomes enthralled by a movie star (Marion Cotillard) playing the Snow Queen in a fairy tale film adaptation. Winner of the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
Where to Land
Hal Hartley's first new film in a decade is a melancholy farce about mortality and what we'll call "late middle-age". Bill Sage is a semi-retired filmmaker who isn't dying faster than the rest of us but who behaves like he might be.
La Grazia
A contemplative, mournful but richly imagined movie about a retiring Italian President (Toni Servillo from The Great Beauty) facing two thorny ethical decisions that may define his legacy.
Image: © Andrea Pirrello
The Blue Star
In crisis, a popular singer quits Spain to backpack in Argentina. There he comes under the spell of a veteran musician, who teaches him the art of chacareras, zambas and vidalas. It's a journey of musical kinship and spiritual reawakening.
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.