Filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania and Actresses Nour Karoui & Ichrak Matar talk to Fest Track about structure, communication and addressing trauma in regards to their film: “Four Daughters”, playing the Arab Spectacular section of the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 This is Tim Walsh from Fast Track OnStreet TV.
00:28 I'm here in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the Red Sea International Film Festival.
00:32 [MUSIC]
00:42 Four Daughters is a woman's story, obviously.
00:53 And it's a story where you have real characters.
00:57 So Olfa and her daughters, the mother, and the two remaining daughters
01:02 are trying to direct actors so they can summon their past to understand it.
01:09 So this is the device, let's say, the story, how it operate in this movie.
01:15 So when I say this, we automatically think about an introspective journey.
01:24 Like you are going, looking to your past to understand why things happen that way,
01:30 why this tragedy.
01:31 So when you talk about introspection, you talk about intimacy,
01:36 you talk about trauma, about healing also.
01:40 So the movie was around this.
01:45 And I mean, I loved filming those women because
01:51 they are natural-born storyteller.
01:56 They have a lot of humor.
01:58 And it's their way of resilience, because when you see their life,
02:04 I mean, the movie is about tragedy, but it's so funny also because they are funny.
02:11 And all those things, I wanted to share them with the audience,
02:17 what I felt when I met them.
02:19 I wanted to share this with the audience and four daughters.
02:23 [FOREIGN]
02:33 [FOREIGN]
02:44 [FOREIGN]
02:54 >> We kept questioning the family about all the situations and
03:05 Rahma's place in all the situation, how she was a controlling person.
03:10 She leads, she was the leader of the family.
03:12 Everyone was afraid a little bit of Rahma.
03:15 She keeps- >> Because she was very focused.
03:19 >> Very focused and she is strict.
03:21 When she believes in something, she's very strict with it.
03:26 You can't change her mind.
03:28 >> Yeah, was that the opposite of Ghafran, of the other sister?
03:33 >> Ghafran?
03:33 Yes, she was the opposite of Ghafran.
03:36 Ghafran was so sweet, so calm, a little bit possessive.
03:40 >> Okay.
03:41 >> Rahma was dominant.
03:43 So yes, they had the same path, but with a different character.
03:49 >> I do like the humor between you and the other girls.
03:55 Because even with the hijab, you found a way to make it very relatable.
04:01 Which is, it's universal.
04:03 >> Yeah. >> We sort of talk about that,
04:04 finding the humor with these girls and laughing.
04:06 That whole scene when you're talking and laughing.
04:09 >> Yes, yes.
04:09 >> Even them, they are so sarcastic, the girls.
04:13 [LAUGH]
04:14 Even on their own stories, the story is so bad.
04:17 But that's it, we need to move on or try to move on.
04:23 They are not going to stand there and crying, crying all the time and
04:27 they don't move to other thing in their life.
04:31 So they needed to talk about their story.
04:32 They needed to show their emotions to everyone.
04:35 They needed to talk about their sisters, Rahma and Ghofran, and the little girl.
04:42 Fatma, she's in the prison.
04:45 So inshallah in Tunisia, the government and
04:49 the international organizations do a pressure maybe to get Rahma and Ghofran.
04:56 Maybe in the Tunisian jail, why in Libya?
04:59 And the baby, now she's not baby, she's eight years, but
05:03 she spent eight years in the prison.
05:05 She didn't see anything in this life.
05:06 Why?
05:07 She's stateless, she doesn't have her citizenship, she doesn't have documents.
05:12 So why, why is that happening?
05:14 >> [FOREIGN]
05:19 >> Action.
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05:23 >> [FOREIGN]
05:27 >> [FOREIGN]
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05:33 >> [FOREIGN]
05:43 >> I think that even if we are different,
05:50 we come from different backgrounds.
05:53 But what's interesting is that we have many things in common.
05:58 We have many experiences in common as women in Tunisia.
06:04 And especially that the film is talking about, it's talking about teenagehood.
06:10 It's talking about motherhood, the relationship between the mother and
06:15 the daughters, the generational trauma and the transmission of traumas.
06:21 And so we've all been there.
06:26 >> The one thing I love that you brought out with the real girls and
06:30 also with Noor is the humor.
06:33 You sitting in the bed and conversing.
06:36 >> Yeah.
06:37 >> You guys in the majorette uniforms, cheering.
06:41 It feels so close and yet- >> Sisterhood.
06:44 >> Yeah, but there's so much grief behind it.
06:48 Were you able to separate it and just- >> Maybe humor is kind of a coping mechanism.
06:53 >> [LAUGH] >> And the Olfa, Taysir and
06:56 Aya, they use humor very much.
07:00 And that's why the shooting was very intense, full of different and
07:05 extreme emotions from sadness, from grief, and humor.
07:11 And that's what I like.
07:12 We shouldn't just keep crying or being sad all the time.
07:18 Humor helps us to
07:23 overcome traumas.
07:29 >> Humor helps us overcome traumas.
07:31 [MUSIC]
07:38 >> [FOREIGN]
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