# Four Daughters (2023 film)

Four Daughters (Arabic: بنات ألفة, romanized: Banāt Olfa, French: Les Filles d'Olfa, lit. 'Olfa's Daughters') is a 2023 Arabic-language documentary film directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. The film tells the story of a Tunisian family after two of four daughters leave to join Daesh fighters in Libya. The filmmaker invites professional actors to stand in for the missing daughters and others in the retelling of the story. The film is an international co-production between France, Tunisia, Germany, and Saudi Arabia.
The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 19 May 2023. It was released in France on 5 July 2023. It was selected as the Tunisian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature.

## Premise

Olfa is the mother of four daughters in Tunisia. Her two older daughters, after becoming radicalised, leave the family to join Daesh fighters in Libya - first one, then the other. Director Kaouther Ben Hania uses professional actors to bring the viewer closer to the life stories of Olfa and her daughters. The film features Olfa and her two remaining daughters, who retell the story along with the actors standing in for the sisters and the various men in their lives.

## Cast

* Hend Sabri as Olfa
* Olfa Hamrouni
* Eya Chikhaoui
* Tayssir Chikhaoui
* Nour Karoui as Rahma Chikhaoui
* Ichraq Matar as Ghofrane Chikhaoui
* Majd Mastoura

## Background

Tunisian Olfa Hamrouni rose to international prominence in April 2016 when she publicized the radicalization of her two teenage daughters, Rahma and Ghofrane Chikhaoui. Both teenagers had left Tunisia to fight alongside the Islamic State (IS) in Libya. Hamrouni publicly criticized the Tunisian authorities for not preventing her daughter Rahma from leaving the country. After the arrest of the two women by Libyan forces, the authorities again did not react. Hamrouni is also said to have been prevented from leaving the country in order to look for her daughters in Libya on her own.

## Production

Four Daughters is written and directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. Cinematography is by Farouk Laaridh, and the film is edited by Kaouther Ben Hania, Qutaiba Barhamji, and Jean-Christophe Hym. Amine Bouhafa composed the score.
The film is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha at Paris-based Tanit Films; Habib Attia at Tunis-based Cinétéléfilms; Thanassis Karathanos and Martin Hampel at Berlin-based Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion GmbH; and co-produced by Red Sea Film Festival Foundation, ZDF/Arte, and Jour2Fête.

## Release

Four Daughters was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 19 May 2023. This is the second participation of a Tunisian production in the Cannes main competition since Abdellatif Ben Ammar's feature film A Simple Story in 1970. The film was theatrically released in France by Jour2Fête on 5 July 2023. It was released in Tunisia on 20 September 2023 by Hakka Distribution. It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'Documentary Showcase' section and will be screened in October 2023.
Kino Lorber gave the film a limited theatrical release in the United States on 27 October 2023.

## Reception
### Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on 82 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Four Daughters' unique approach to documenting real-life horror is a formal gamble that only underscores the bravery and resilience of its subjects." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 21 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Four Daughters received an average rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 28 reviews.

### Accolades

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
| Academy Awards | 10 March 2024 | Best Documentary Feature Film | Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha | Nominated | |
| Alliance of Women Film Journalists | 3 January 2024 | Best Documentary | Four Daughters | Nominated | |
| Austin Film Critics Association Awards | 10 January 2024 | Best Documentary | Four Daughters | Nominated | |
| Brussels International Film Festival | 5 July 2023 | Grand Prix - International Competition | Four Daughters | Nominated | |
| Brussels International Film Festival | 5 July 2023 | International Competition - Jury Prize | Four Daughters | Won | |
| Calgary International Film Festival | 1 October 2023 | Best International Documentary Feature | Four Daughters | Nominated | |
| Cannes Film Festival | 27 May 2023 | Palme d'Or | Kaouther Ben Hania | Nominated | |
| Cannes Film Festival | 27 May 2023 | L'Œil d'or | Kaouther Ben Hania | Won | |
| Cannes Film Festival | 27 May 2023 | François Chalais Prize | Kaouther Ben Hania | Won | |
| Cannes Film Festival | 27 May 2023 | Prix de la Citoyenneté | Kaouther Ben Hania | Won | |
| César Awards | 23 February 2024 | Best Documentary Film | Nadim Cheikhrouha, Habib Attia, Thanassis Karathanos, Martin Hampel, Kaouther Ben Hania | Won | |
| Chicago International Film Festival | 22 October 2023 | Best International Documentary | Four Daughters | Nominated | |
| Chicago International Film Festival | 22 October 2023 | Best International Documentary - Special Mention | Four Daughters | Won | |
| Cinema Eye Honors | 12 January 2024 | Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature | Kaouther Ben Hania, Nadim Cheikhrouha | Nominated | |
| Cinema Eye Honors | 12 January 2024 | Outstanding Direction | Kaouther Ben Hania | Won | |
| Cinema Eye Honors | 12 January 2024 | Heterodox Award | Four Daughters | Nominated | |
| European Film Awards | 9 December 2023 | Best European Documentary | Four Daughters | Nominated | |
| Festival international du cinéma francophone en Acadie | 24 November 2023 | Best Medium or Feature Documentary | Kaouther Ben Hania | Won | |
| Georgia Film Critics Association Awards | 5 January 2024 | Best Documentary Film | Four Daughters | Nominated | [38] [39] |
| Gotham Independent Film Awards | 27 November 2023 | Best Documentary Feature | Four Daughters | Won | |
| IDA Documentary Awards | 12 December 2023 | Best Writing | Kaouther Ben Hania | Won | |
| Independent Spirit Awards | 25 February 2024 | Best Documentary Feature | Kaouther Ben Hania, Nadim Cheikhrouha | Won | |
| IndieWire Critics Poll | 11 December 2023 | Best Documentary | Four Daughters | 5th Place | |
| Lumière Awards | 22 January 2024 | Best Music | Amine Bouhafa | Nominated | |
| Lumière Awards | 22 January 2024 | Best Documentary | Four Daughters | Won | |
| Montclair Film Festival | 29 October 2023 | Bruce Sinofsky Prize for Documentary Feature | Four Daughters | Won | |
| Munich Film Festival | 1 July 2023 | ARRI/OSRAM Award for Best Film | Kaouther Ben Hania | Won | |
| Paris Film Critics Association Awards | 4 February 2024 | Best Documentary | Kaouther Ben Hania | Won | |
| Toronto Film Critics Association | 17 December 2023 | Allan King Documentary Award | Four Daughters | Runner-up | |
| Valladolid International Film Festival | 28 October 2023 | Golden Spike | Four Daughters | Nominated | |
| Women Film Critics Circle Awards | 18 December 2023 | Best Foreign Film by or About Women | Four Daughters | Runner-up | |