Kaouther Ben Hania’s heartbreaking Tunisian documentary four daughters has taken first prize for best international film at the 2023 Munich International Film Festival.
The film tells the story of Olfa Hamrouni, a Tunisian mother whose two eldest daughters left the country to join the Islamic State in Libya, never to be seen again. In his exploration of Hamrouni’s history, Ben Hania hires two actors to play Olfa’s missing daughters. The docu-drama hybrid premiered at Cannes, where it won the Golden Eye for Best Documentary (shared with Asmae El Moudir The mother of all lies).
Another hybrid feature from Cannes, Buriti’s flower, won the CineVision Munich award for best international emerging director for directors João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora. The film, made in close collaboration with the Krahô people of Brazil, is a fusion of ethnography and poetic narrative, exploring the group’s tribal memories.
OmenBelgian-Congolese rapper-turned-director Baloji’s first feature, another Cannes entry, took Munich’s CineRebels award, with Agniia Galdanova’s documentary Reignabout the Russian avant-garde artist Marvin, receiving a special mention.
The Fipresci International Film Critics Award went to Henning Beckhoff Fossila German drama about an aging coal miner and his environmentalist daughter.
The festival’s audience award, voted for by some 58,000 Munich festival goers, went to Aki Kaurismäki Fallen leaves. The Finnish master’s first film in six years also premiered at Cannes, where it won the festival’s jury prize.
