The Tunisian film "Alfa Girls" (Four Daughters) has made the 2024 Oscars shortlist for Best International Feature Film, following its recent win for Best Documentary Film at the third edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival during its Arab premiere. After being showcased at various international film festivals and securing multiple awards, the gripping story comes closer to potential Oscar glory.
Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, the dramatic documentary explores a widely known story that filled the pages of crime news and social media, detailing a family crisis with political, security, and educational dimensions.
Al Jazeera Net met with the "Alfa Girls" team, including director Kaouther Ben Hania, who shared insights not revealed in the film itself.
Drama and Documentation
Ben Hania documented the real-life story, provoking a debate on the issue of violence and its sleeper cells through the lens of a simple family whose life takes a catastrophic turn as they progressively shift from a stable existence to a threat endangering the family's security.
The film revolves around Alfa, a Tunisian mother of four daughters (Rahma, Ghofran, Tesseer, and Aya) who lead a seemingly stable life despite poverty. However, that stability is shattered when the two eldest siblings fall into the clutches of terrorism and join an armed cell at the Libyan border.
"Alfa Girls" at the Cannes Festival (Social media)
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Ben Hania explains that initially, in 2016, she filmed the project as a documentary but felt unsatisfied, believing that the footage didn't do justice to the intricate and complex story full of political, historical, and human dimensions.
Ben Hania adds, "I found the tale to be explosive, leading me to conclude that the best way to convey it was to tell the story as I see it. I went back to work on the film, starting with the question of what makes a promising young girl decide to run away from home and join an armed group." The superficial answer that might come to mind is that poverty and ignorance are the contributing factors. However, the true answer lies in delving into the past of this family, which requires reconstructing scenes and using a cinematic cliché, which I decided to turn to the advantage of the film."
Thus, Kaouther mixed actors with real-life counterparts, Alfa and her two younger daughters, where they directed the actors, and the actors posed questions to them, allowing the audience to witness and become part of the intricate details.
Ben Hania leveraged Alfa and her daughters' talent for storytelling and their use of simple vernacular, resulting in engaging anecdotes without relying on a written script. Their reactions, she says, were natural and startlingly genuine, showing remarkable courage in discussing difficult matters. Despite having no previous acting experience, they quickly grasped the filming techniques and the camera.
"Alfa Girls" at the Cannes Festival (Social media)
Improvisation Scenes
Alongside Alfa and her daughters, the film features actors Majd Mastoura, Ishrak Mattar, and Nour Gharbi. Majd Mastoura takes on all male characters, and Tunisian actress Hend Sabry was chosen by Ben Hania for her personal characteristics aligning with those of Alfa, albeit with differences that enrich the portrayal of this multifaceted mother character.
Discussing the challenges of improvisation without a script, actress Nour Groui, who portrays Rahma—one of Alfa's daughters who joined the violent cells—prepared for her role through Rahma and Ghofran's internet videos, information on the story, sessions with Ben Hania, and becoming part of Alfa's family to understand their life and expression.
Actress Ishrak Mattar, playing Ghofran, comments on the difficulty of alternating between her role and being herself. She says, "It was a major challenge. Normally, there's a script to follow; however, this film relies on a different narrative technique." Mattar credits her theater experience for helping manage the improvisational scenes, with some of the toughest performances involving depicting death, torment and judgment.
Tunisian actress Hend Sabry (Social media)
The experiences shared by the "Alfa Girls" cast reflect an emotional journey, highlighting the story's space between real life and cinema. With its place on the Oscar shortlist, "Alfa Girls" beams a spotlight on global social issues through the power of documentary storytelling coupled with dramatic representation.
