This volume seeks chapters that will address the films of acclaimed director Kaouther Ben Hania. The Tunisian filmmaker has broken ground by merging documentary and fiction and bringing political narratives of the MENA world to feature film, including contemporary gender issues in Tunisia, the status of Syrian refugees, the Islamic State, and the war on Gaza.
A summary of her five features reveals a web of interrelated themes, all of which bring urgent contemporary issues to the screen with gravity, innovation, and wit. Her first feature film The Challat of Tunis (2014) comically merges documentary and fiction to comment on social mores and sexual harassment in Tunisia. While her second feature film Beauty and the Dogs (2017) , ostensibly a fiction film, relates the true story of a young woman who was raped by police. Ben Hania overtly addresses the dire status of refugees with The Man who sold his skin (2020), and simultaneously critiques the art market’s commodification of these individuals (the main character a Syrian refugee agrees to have a visa tattooed on his back and pose as art so that he may travel freely to Europe). In her second feature of docufiction, Ben Hania examines the possible reasons why two of Olfa Hamrouni’s four daughters fled to join the Islamic State. With reenactment Four Daughters (2021) examines not only one family’s struggles but the nation’s post-Revolution era. Finally combining her interest in innovative documentary and injustice in the Arab world, The Voice of Hind Rejab (2025) uncovers how the Red Crescent attempted to save a six year old girl from an attack in Gaza–actors interact and respond to an actual recording of Hind Rejab’s voice. These features and Ben Hania’s previous shorts demand our serious and extensive inquiry; their subjects, style, funding, and success relate a new path forward in international film.
Some possible themes of interest are:
Ben Hania’s early work in short films, La Brêche (2003) and Moi, ma soeur et la chose (2006) and work at Al Jazeera documentary channel.
An auteur study of Ben Hania’s oeuvre, any style or theme that persists throughout
Questions of transnationalism:
In the funding of Ben Hania’s films
Its art-house public and or reception
Activism
Its subject matters
Feminism in Ben Hania’s work
Ben Hania’s films and awards
The depiction of Tunisia by Ben Hania
Ben Hania’s relationship to other directors of the MENA
Reenactment in Ben Hania’s oeuvre
Current events in Ben Hania's films
Your suggested topic on any individual film(s)
These suggested themes are not exhaustive.
Please send a 200-300 word abstract for a chapter to Nicole Beth Wallenbrock at [email protected] by February 14th (decisions will be sent by March 1st) with May 1st as a deadline for chapter drafts.
Please also use this email address to send any questions.