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Drury Speaker Series: Four Daughters (2023)

Between light and darkness stands Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters. One day, her two older daughters disappear. Filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional actresses to fill in their absence. (NR, 107 min.)
Original title: Les filles d'Olfa

Showtimes

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

7:00 PM

Drury University - Professor of English, Katherine Gilbert, Ph.D., will lead a discussion following the screening.

One of the year's most acclaimed releases, this riveting documentary by 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. [Kino Lorber]

Starring: Olfa Hamrouni, Eya Chikhaoui, Tayssir Chikhaoui
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Language: Arabic w/ English subtitles
Genre: Documentary
*Nominee for Best Documentary at the 96th Academy Awards
*Winner: Best Documentary – Gotham Awards, Best Documentary – European Film Awards, Best Writing – IDA Documentary *AwardsWinner: L'Oeil d'Or (Best Documentary) – Cannes Film Festival
*Official Selection: Toronto International Film Festival, AFI Fest, BFI London Film Festival, SFFilm Doc Stories, DOC NYC: Short List

Watch Trailer

"A distinctive, daring and original work."

— Wendy Ide, Screen Daily

"A fascinating, gripping watch. A rare and deeply penetrating film."

— Farah Cheded, Paste Magazine

"Genuinely hard to forget. It will linger with you for days afterward."

— Gregory Ellwood, The Playlist

"A revelatory, poignant blend of drama, memory, and self-scrutiny."

— Richard Brody, The New Yorker

"A daring and emotional act of cinematic… healing. Cathartic, affecting and original."

— Philip De Semlyen, Time Out

"Takes us into the intimate, inner circle of family ties to tell a larger story of our time."

— Sharon Waxman, The Wrap

"An enthralling narrative about memory, motherhood and the inherited traumas of a patriarchal society."

— Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter

"Formally daring, emotionally gripping…a heartbreaker about mothers and daughters, the cruelty of repression and the slippery but revealing nature of performance."

— Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

"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"

— Jason Gorber, POV Magazine