Houda Benyamina is turning her eye from BFFs to lovers. The French-Moroccan filmmaker is developing her follow-up to “Divines,” a coming-of-age drama about best friends in over their heads, with “For Assia,” a politically-charged romantic drama. Variety reports that the film will chart the “romance between an Algerian revolutionary and an American reporter set against the backdrop of Algeria’s struggle for independence.”
The story spans 30 years and depicts “the unbreakable bond between an imprisoned Algerian revolutionary and an American journalist whose work proves decisive in rallying support in France and abroad for getting her off death row,” Variety writes. Benyamina is taking inspiration from history — the film’s main character is based on a number of female revolutionaries who made a mark during the Algerian war, including Djamila Bouhired and Zohra Drif.
“These Algerian women revolutionaries came from all backgrounds. For Algerian youths, they were as powerful and inspirational icons as Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Malcolm X,” Benyamina explained. “For Assia” will highlight the role women played during the war.
“Like across the rest of the world, French cinema is misogynist, white, and ‘bourgeois’ — and the figures show this,” Benyamina told Women and Hollywood. “Women’s film budgets are far lower than men’s and as a result they are underrepresented in blockbusters. Why should women, unlike men, have to fight to become visible? You must fight hard as a woman and we must clamor for our rights.”
“For Assia” is a love story, but one that is “tinted by conflicts of interest and power struggle,” Benyamina said. The project sees her reteaming with “Divines” producer Marc-Benoît Créancier at Easy Tiger. The film will shoot in early 2018.
“Divines” made its world premiere at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight last year, where Benyamina took home the Camera d’Or. The film centers on Dounia (Oulaya Amamra) and Maimouna (Déborah Lukumuena), two teens who dream of finding fortune, power, and respect — to live lives unlike the ones they currently lead in their impoverished Paris banlieue. The best friends get involved in drug dealing in the hopes that it will solve their problems.
