The film is an international co-production between France, Tunisia, Germany and Saudi Arabia.
Tunisia has selected Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters as its entry for the Academy Awards‘ Best Documentary Feature category.
This is the third time that Ben Hania has represented Tunisia at the Oscars, following the submission and nomination of her 2020 film The Man Who Sold His Skin and her 2017 film Beauty and the Dogs.
The film recently won the L’Oeil d’Or Award for Best Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival. This was the second participation of a Tunisian production in the Cannes main competition since Abdellatif Ben Ammar’s feature film A Simple Story in 1970.
Kino Lorber will release the film in the US on October 27, 2023.
Four Daughters is written and directed by Ben Hania, whose 2020 film The Man Who Sold His Skin was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature.
An ambitious exploration of rebellion, memory, and sisterhood, Four Daughters reconstructs the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters, unpacking a complex family history through intimate interviews and reenactments to examine how the two eldest were radicalised and disappeared. Casting professional actresses as missing eldest daughters Ghofrane and Rahma, along with Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabri as Olfa, director Kaouther Ben Hania re-stages pivotal moments in the family’s life as they tell their story, capturing moments of joy, loss, violence, and heartache. Interwoven with confessions and reflections from Olfa and younger daughters Eya and Tayssir, Four Daughters questions the nature of memory, the weight of inherited trauma, and the ties that bind mother and daughter.
Four Daughters is produced by Tanit Films in association with Cinetelefilms and Twenty Twenty in co-production with Red Sea Film Festival Foundation, ZDF/Arte, and Jour2Fête. The film is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha in association with Habib Attia and Thanassis Karathanos.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the films on the 2024 Oscar shortlist on December 21. The five nominees will be announced on January 23. The 95th Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 10.
