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 screen 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.
“…An enthralling “fictional documentary” by Kaouther Ben Hania exploring the psychological states of a strong-headed Tunisian mother and her four daughters, two of whom joined Islamic State, through staged recreations and interactions with actors playing their roles…”
—Jay Weissberg, The Film Verdict
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.