Oscars 2024: Tunisia Picks Kaouther Ben Hania’s ‘Four Daughters’ for International Feature Category

Tunisia has picked Kaouther Ben Hania’s documentary Four Daughters, which debuted in competition in Cannes this year, as its entry for the 2024 Oscars in the best international feature category.

The film focuses on a mother, Olfa Hamrouni and her four daughters, two of which disappeared as teenagers, with evidence suggesting they had left to join Islamic State in Libya. Ben Hania hired professional actresses to play the two missing daughters, who interact with the rest of the family, creating a docu-fiction hybrid, as a way of exploring the family’s trauma. Four Daughters won the Golden Eye prize for the best documentary in Cannes, sharing it with Asmae El Moudir’s film The Mother of All Lies. Four Daughters will also be submitted to the Oscars in the best documentary category.

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Ben Hania’s last film, the drama The Man Who Sold His Skin, which premiered in Venice in 2020, was shortlisted for the best international feature Oscar in 2021, marking the first time Tunisia made the Oscars shortlist.

The Party Film Sales is selling Four Daughters worldwide.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the films on the 2024 Oscar shortlist on Dec. 21. The five nominees will be announced Jan. 23. The 95th Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 10.

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