Kaouther Ben Hania's "Four Daughters" is the film that will represent Tunisia at the 96th Academy Awards for Best International Film «Oscars» 2024.
According to the rules for the 2024 Oscar nominations, candidate films must have been released in their country of origin between December 1, 2022 and October 31, 2023. A shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 21 and a shortlist of five films will be announced in early January 2024.
In a statement, the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image (CNCI) announced that the film nominated for the 2023 Oscars was selected on Thursday August 31 by a national jury composed of Makhlouf ben Hafsia, Khadija Lemkacher, Afef Ben Mahmoud, Leila Bouzid, Alaedddine Slim and Mokhtar Laajimi.
This is Ben Hania's second film to represent Tunisia at the Oscars. Her fourth feature film, The Man Who Sold His Skin, made the shortlist of 15 films for the 93rd Academy Awards.
The life of Olfa, a Tunisian mother of 4 daughters, oscillates between light and shadow. One day, her two eldest daughters disappear. To fill their absence, director Kaouther Ben Hania calls on professional actresses in this docu-drama and uses an extraordinary cinematographic device to lift the veil on the story of Olfa and her daughters. An intimate journey of hope, rebellion, violence, transmission and sisterhood that questions the very foundations of societies.
Each year, all countries are invited to submit the film that best represents their cinematography, according to the criteria defined by the Oscars Academy.
According to the current procedure, the selected film is submitted to the International Executive Committee. This committee is responsible for selecting all the films from the countries nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
A foreign film is defined as any feature film in a dominant foreign language other than English, produced outside the United States of America. Nominations are open to feature films, animated films and documentaries.
The 96th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse