Tunisian Actress Hend Sabry, Star Of Upcoming Cannes Contender ‘Four Daughters’, Signs With CAA

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kaouther Ben Hania, the Oscar-nominated director of “The Man Who Sold His Skin” whose latest film “Four Daughters” is competing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will next direct “Mimesis,” an epic love story set in Tunisia. While the plot is under wraps, the story is set in two different periods, the 1990s and the 1940s, paying tribute to cinema and Arab-Muslim cultural heritage. It’s being produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha at Tanit Films, who produced Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” and her previous film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” which world premiered at Venice where it won best actor for Yahya Mahayni and was nominated for best international film at the Oscars in 2021.

Using actors to bring to life story elements within documentary film is becoming a more widespread practice, if one that’s still viewed with skepticism by some purists.

Jessica Kiang Late on in Kaouther Ben Hania’s compelling, ambitious hybrid “Four Daughters,” Olfa Hamrouni — the film’s focus, its fixation and its most charismatically contradictory character — strokes a purring, heavily pregnant ginger cat. Sometimes, she tells us, a cat will be so scared for her babies that she eats them. It’s Olfa’s covert acknowledgement that her own misguided protective urge, forged by her hard history with men and mother alike, might have contributed to her life’s great, rupturing tragedy: when, in 2015, the elder two of her four girls ran away to join ISIS. But it also recalls one of her earlier to-camera segments, when she described her daughters, as though shielding herself from the pain of the real with the language of fable, as having been “devoured by the wolf.” So which is it: Were Ghofran and Rahma, 16 and 15 at the time of their disappearance, eaten up by their cat-mother or consumed by the predatory wolves of religious fundamentalism, cultural indoctrination, ISIS itself?

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French actor Marine Delterme has signed with WME and has joined the cast of Park Chan-Wook’s HBO spy series “The Sympathizer” alongside Robert Downey Jr. Delterme, who currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband Florian Zeller, the Oscar-winning director of “The Father,” is best known in France for her role in the long-running procedural series “Alice Nevers.” Delterme has also acted in Roland Joffe’s “Vatel,” Mike Figgis’ “Women and Men 2,” and Christian Duguay’s “Coco Chanel.” She also collaborated with directors such as Jean Luc Godard, Manuel Poirier, Benoît Delepine, Philippe Leguay, Raoul Ruiz,  Philippe Harrel, Cyril Collard, Cedrick Klapish, Caroline Champetier, Gerard Oury and Claude Berri.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Oscar-nominated Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania (“Beauty and the Dogs,” “The Man Who Sold His Skin”) is back in Cannes with “Four Daughters” a powerful drama that mixes documentary and fiction to delve into the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni who rose to international prominence in April 2016 when she publicized the radicalization of her two teenage daughters who had left Tunisia to fight with ISIS. The film, which is the only Arab entry in competition, stars Egyptian-Tunisian star Hend Sabri in the lead role of an actor who must play Hamrouni and gets coaching from the real Olfa on how to prepare for the role. Ben Hania spoke to Variety about the bold choice she made.

EXCLUSIVE: Actress and model Kaia Gerber signs with Entertainment 360.

EXCLUSIVE: Range Media Partners has signed Bertie, the highly sought-after writer-director otherwise known as Katie Ellwood, who has been behind such titles as Hawkeye and Troop Zero, and has a top-notch dance card looking ahead.

EXCLUSIVE: Jennifer Weber, the choreographer who recently received Tony Award nominations for her work on & Juliet and KPOP, has signed with UTA for representation in all areas.

Lise Pedersen Cannes Docs, the Marché du Film sidebar dedicated to documentary film, has unveiled the line-up of its Doc Day, which unspools on May 23, as the final event in at Cannes Docs. Veteran U.S. cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, president of Cannes Festival’s Œil d’or Jury which hands out an award to the best doc in Cannes’ Official Selection, will open the morning session in a conversation with writer, director and producer Guetty Felin (“Ayiti Mon Amour,” “Closer to the Dream”). Entitled “Cinema and the Pleasures of the Impossible,” it will explore the many ways filmmaking creates possibilities to search for the invisible, to bring life to the dead and to time travel in their lives.

Christine Brown spent a day with her family at the happiest place on Earth. The star shared a series of photos from a recent trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, California. In one of the images, Christine is embraced in a big hug by her daughters — Ysabel, 20, and Truely, 13 — and her new fiance, David Woolley. «Had a BLAST in California Adventure and Disneyland!» Christine captioned the photo carousel, noting that the group even scored a reservation at the ultra private Club 33 lounge.The outing comes just one month after Christine announced her engagement to David following a whirlwind four months of dating. The couple went public with their relationship on Valentine's Day this year and, according to David's Facebook page, they have been dating since December.A post shared by Christine Brown (@christine_brownsw)Christine gushed over her second chance at love in a post-engagement message on Instagram last month. «We don’t always get second chances in life, I’m blessed to have found mine,» she wrote next to a series of pictures of her flashing her ring.«To have found my happily ever after.

EXCLUSIVE: Writer-director Duke Johnson has signed with WME in all areas for representation. He is best known for co-directing the critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated film Anomalisa with Charlie Kaufman.

EXCLUSIVE: As all of the Cannes packages start to trickle through ahead of the big event on the Croisette next week, an early frontrunner in the hot package game is Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson and Ruth Negga starrer Night Boat to Tangier. Oscar-winning director James Marsh is directing the project, based on the novel of the same name from Kevin Barry’s New York Times Top 10 Book of the Year.

EXCLUSIVE: Sagar Radiahas signed with Mosaic for representation.

EXCLUSIVE: Zoë Winters, best known for her role as Logan Roy’s calculating assistant Kerry Castellabate on HBO’s Succession, has signed with Anonymous Content.

EXCLUSIVE: Drag queen, comedian, actor and former RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Bianca Del Rio (aka Roy Haylock) has signed with CAA for representation.

BreAnna Bell “Harry & Meghan” producer Neha Shastry has signed with CAA for representation. She continues to be represented by Ramo Law. An Indian-American director and producer, Shastry began her career at Vice News, where she produced its critically acclaimed coverage of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the subsequent war in Eastern Ukraine. Her work has been recognized with an Emmy, a Dupont, and a Peabody. Shastry produced Stacey Abrams’ “All In: The Fight For Democracy,” which detailed the history and legacy of voter suppression in the U.S. The film was shortlisted for an Academy Award, and was named Best Documentary by the Hollywood Critics Association, African-American Film Critics Association, and Alliance of Women Film Journalists.

EXCLUSIVE: Finn Cole has signed with UTA for representation in all areas.

EXCLUSIVE: Naomie Harris has signed with WME for representation in all areas. She is returning to the agency after 3 months with CAA.

It’s been nearly four years since Todd Haynes released a new narrative feature film. Thankfully, that’s changing later this year with the release of his new film, “May December.”  READ MORE: ‘Superstar’: Todd Haynes Says His Banned Carpenters Movie May Finally Get An Official Release And with a Cannes debut on the horizon for Todd Haynes’ “May December,” Variety has just published a first-look photo of the new film which stars Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman.

EXCLUSIVE: British actress Aimee Lou Wood, best known for her starring role in Netflix’s Sex Education, has signed with CAA for representation.