Four Daughters
Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania
2024 Academy Award® Nominee – Best Documentary Feature Film
One of the year's most acclaimed releases, this riveting documentary by two-time Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin) uses an audacious formal conceit to tell the story of Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters. Attempting to answer the question of how and why the Tunisian woman’s two eldest were radicalized, Ben Hania reveals a complex history. We watch as the family relives key events in their lives with help from professional actors standing in for the missing girls. Winner of the Best Documentary award at the Cannes Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature at the Gotham Awards, and Best Writing at the IDA Documentary Awards, Four Daughters is a compelling portrait of five women and a unique and ambitious work of nonfiction cinema that pushes against the conventional boundaries of the documentary form to explore the nature of memory, rebellion, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.
Reviews
“A revelatory, poignant blend of drama, memory, and self-scrutiny."
“Formally daring, emotionally gripping…a heartbreaker about mothers and daughters, the cruelty of repression and the slippery but revealing nature of performance.”
“An enthralling narrative about memory, motherhood and the inherited traumas of a patriarchal society."
"A daring and emotional act of cinematic… healing. Cathartic, affecting and original."
“A fascinating, gripping watch. A rare and deeply penetrating film.”
“Genuinely hard to forget. It will linger with you for days afterward.”
“A distinctive, daring and original work.”
“Takes us into the intimate, inner circle of family ties to tell a larger story of our time.”
“Utterly transfixing …an exhilarating confrontation between truth and performance.”
“Compelling, ambitious … a therapeutic exercise, and a commentary on the filmmaking process itself.”
“Shows the intrinsic complexity of human behavior, the stark truths of living within complex realities, and the glimmer of hope that circles of trauma can be overcome by new generations”
