“Four Daughters takes us into the intimate, inner circle of family ties to tell a larger story of our time. The pain is personal, and the impact is global.”
– Sharon Waxman, The Wrap
“Absorbing and devastating… An exhilarating confrontation between truth and performance, past and present.”
– Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter
“A distinctive, daring and original work.”
– Wendy Ide, Screen International
Tunisia has submitted Kaouther Ben Hania’s Cannes prizewinning documentary Four Daughters as their official entry for Best International Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. Winner of the L’Oeil d’Or for Best Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was the sole Arab film in Competition, Four Daughters will next screen in the Special Presentations section of the Toronto International Film Festival. Kino Lorber will release the film theatrically on October 27 and has also submitted the film in the Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature category.
The submission of Four Daughters marks the third time that Kaouther Ben Hania has represented Tunisia at the Academy Awards, following the submission and nomination of her 2020 film The Man Who Sold His Skin and the submission of her 2017 film Beauty and the Dogs. Ben Hania is currently serving on the Orizzonti jury at the Venice Film Festival and will attend the North American premiere of Four Daughters at the Toronto Film Festival on September 13.
With submissions in both the International Feature and Documentary Feature categories, Four Daughters joins previous Academy Award multiple entries Flee, The Mole Agent, and Kino Lorber’s own Fire at Sea, all of which went on to receive one or more nominations.
A riveting exploration of rebellion, memory, and sisterhood, Four Daughters reconstructs the story of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, unpacking a complex family history through intimate interviews and performance to examine how the Tunisian woman’s two eldest daughters were radicalized. Casting professional actresses as the missing eldest daughters Ghofrane and Rahma, along with acclaimed Egyptian-Tunisian actress Hend Sabri as Olfa, director Kaouther Ben Hania restages pivotal moments in the family’s life, interwoven with confessions and reflections from Olfa and younger daughters Eya and Tayssir that capture moments of joy, loss, violence, and heartache. Four Daughters is a compelling portrait of five women and a unique and ambitious work of nonfiction storytelling that 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.