Kaouther Ben Hania


Kaouther Ben Hania, also written Kaouther Ben Henia or Kaouther Benhenia, is a Tunisian filmmaker.
She is best known for her feature films The Man Who Sold His Skin and The Voice of Hind Rajab, which were nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature representing Tunisia. While her documentary Four Daughters was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
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Early life

Kaouther Ben Hania was born in Sidi Bouzid. She studied at the Ecole des Arts et du Cinéma in Tunisia, then studied at La Fémis and the Sorbonne in Paris.
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.
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. Then she directed several feature films, distinguished in various festivals, while resuming her studies in 2007–2008 at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.

Career

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. It was also selected as the Tunisian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but was not nominated. In 2018, the film was nominated for the Lumière Award for Best Francophone Film.
Her film The Man Who Sold His Skin 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.
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. Film won Cinema for Peace Dove for Women's Empowerment. 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 82nd Venice International Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature at the 98th Academy Awards

Accolades

Decoration

Knight of the National Order of Merit

Awards

Nominations and Selections