Kaouther Ben Hania’s work blurs the boundaries between fiction and documentary, often interrogating power, identity, and representation. A graduate of Tunis’s School of Arts and Cinema and La Fémis in Paris, she has built a reputation as one of the Arab World’s most internationally recognized filmmakers. Her breakout feature, BEAUTY AND THE DOGS, premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, earning widespread acclaim for its real-time structure and unflinching portrayal of institutional violence. She followed it with THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN, which premiered in Venice’s Orizzonti section and went on to secure Tunisia’s first-ever Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature Film. Ben Hania reached new heights with FOUR DAUGHTERS, a formally inventive hybrid documentary that premiered in competition at Cannes and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, further cementing her reputation as a bold, genre-defying storyteller.
Nominations for the Big Three: THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB was nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and an Academy Award. A Festival Favorite: Throughout its extensive festival run, the film has garnered more than 15 awards, including six audience awards and two best film awards. It also opened the Doha International Film Festival and closed the Cairo International Film Festival.
THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB: Ben Hania’s latest feature film, based on the heart-wrenching final moments of Hind Rajab, premiered to exceptional success and a 22-minute standing ovation at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, where it single-handedly won nine awards.
