“Absorbing and devastating… Four Daughters becomes utterly transfixing,
moving from an observational process documentary to an exhilarating confrontation
between truth and performance, past and present.”
– Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter
“A daring and emotional act of cinematic therapy … Ben Hania takes the
building blocks of filmmaking and constructs from them something
cathartic, affecting and original.”
– Phil De Semlyen, Time Out
“A rich and powerful testament to the complexity of witnessing and the travails of making sense of the past…
Ben Hania has achieved something truly remarkable in telling not only this story, but also in exploring
the very mechanisms of non-fiction storytelling itself.”
– Jason Gorber, POV Magazine
Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. rights to Academy Award-nominee Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, winner of the L’Oeil d’Or Award for best documentary at the Cannes Film Festival. The film will continue to make stops on the international festival circuit and will open theatrically via Kino Lorber this fall, followed by a digital and home video release on all major platforms.
The sole Arab film in Main Competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Four Daughters is written and directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, whose 2020 film The Man Who Sold His Skin was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. Following its world premiere at Cannes, Four Daughters was awarded the L’Oeil d’Or alongside Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies, with the Kirsten Johnson-led jury praising the filmmakers for their “courage and imagination” and applauding the films for their ability to “break the silences and overcome the traumas passed down from generation to generation”. Last year’s L’Oeil d’Or winner, All That Breathes, went on to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.
A compelling and 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 radicalized and disappeared. Casting professional actresses as missing eldest daughters Ghofrane and Rahma, along with acclaimed 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 is an enthralling look at five women and a unique cinematic exercise that questions the nature of memory, the weight of inherited trauma, and the ties that bind mother and daughter.
The deal for Four Daughters was brokered by Kino Lorber Senior Vice President Wendy Lidell and Samuel Blanc for The Party Film Sales. In addition to the deals previously announced during Cannes, Four Daughters has also been sold to Canada (Mongrel / Metropole), Iceland (Bio Paradis), Baltic Countries (Estofilm), Portugal (Nitrato Filmes), Romania (Bad Unicorn), and Hungary (Vertigo Media). The German release will be handled by Rapid Eye Movies.
“We were immediately captivated by Kaouther Ben Hania's powerful documentary Four Daughters, a riveting piece of filmmaking that takes an innovative and provocative approach to nonfiction storytelling,” said Wendy Lidell, SVP of Theatrical Distribution and Acquisitions for Kino Lorber. “Ben Hania casts accomplished actors to perform alongside her real-life documentary subjects, adding a layer of complexity that gives agency to her collaborators and mines truth from the space it occupies between fact and memory. We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring this groundbreaking documentary to U.S. audiences this fall.”
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.