Kaouther Ben Hania, also written Kaouther Ben Henia or Kaouther Benhenia (Arabic: كوثر بن هنية), is a Tunisian filmmaker.[1] She is most known for her 2020 film The Man Who Sold His Skin, which was nominated for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards,[2] and her 2024 documentary Four Daughters, which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 96th Academy Awards.[3][4][5]
Kaouther Ben Hania was born in Sidi Bouzid. She studied at the Ecole des Arts et du Cinéma (EDAC) in Tunisia, then studied at La Fémis and the Sorbonne in Paris.[6]
She studied from 2002 to 2004 at the Tunis School of Arts and Cinema. During this training she directed several short films, one of which, La Breche, was noticed. In 2003, she also participated in a feature film writing workshop funded by Euromed. In 2004, she continued her training at La Fémis, first at the summer university and then in 2004-2005.[7]
In 2006, she directed another short film, Moi, ma sœur et la chose, inspired by the short story Le Jeune homme and l'enfant et la question by Mohsen Ben Hania. She then worked for Al Jazeera Documentary Channel until 2007.[7] Then she directed several feature films, distinguished in various festivals, while resuming her studies in 2007-2008 at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.
Her first feature film was Le Challat de Tunis, released in 2014, a social satire with an ironic tone, while addressing, like the following works, the relationships between women and men.
Her 2017 film Beauty and the Dogs was selected to the Un Certain Regard category at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.[8][9][10] It was also selected as the Tunisian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but was not nominated.[11][12][13][14] In 2018, the film was nominated for the Lumière Award for Best Francophone Film.[15]
Her film The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020) had its world premiere in the Orizzonti section of the 77th Venice International Film Festival. It was also selected as the Tunisian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated at the 93rd Academy Awards, making it the first Tunisian film to be nominated for the Oscars.[16]
In 2023, her documentary Four Daughters was selected for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the L'Œil d'or and the François Chalais Prize. At the 49th César Awards it won the César Award for Best Documentary Film.[17] It was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 96th Academy Awards, marking Ben Hania second Academy Award nomination.
In 2025, her docudrama The Voice of Hind Rajab received a 23-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival[18] and won the festival's Grand Jury Prize.[19]
| Year | English title | Original title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Zaineb Hates the Snow | زينب تكره الثلج | [20] |
| 2017 | Beauty and the Dogs | على كف عفريت | [11] |
| 2020 | The Man Who Sold His Skin | الرجل الذي باع ظهره | [21] |
| 2025 | The Voice of Hind Rajab | صوت هند رجب | [22] |
| Year | English title | Original title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Imams Go to School | Les imams vont à l'école | [23] |
| 2013 | The Challat of Tunis | شلاط تونس | [24] |
| 2023 | Four Daughters | بنات ألفة | [25] |
| Year | English title | Original title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | The Breach | La Brèche | [26] |
| 2006 | Me, My Sister and the Thing | Moi, ma sœur et la chose | [26] |
| 2013 | Wooden Hand | يد اللوح | [27] |
| 2018 | Sheikh's Watermelons | بطيخ الشيخ | [28] |
| 2021 | I and The Stupid Boy (22nd in the Miu Miu's Women's Tales series) | ||
Knight of the National Order of Merit (Tunisia, 2016)[31]
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