Distributor La Vingt-Cinquième Heure has acquired the French rights to Dina Amer’s politically sensitive drama You Resemble Me. The film tells the story of Hasna Aït Boulahcen, who was mistakenly believed to be Europe’s first female suicide bomber in 2015.
The film is a deeply researched character study of the young Muslim woman who was wrongly linked to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, even though she didn’t participate in them. Aït Boulahcen died during an anti-terrorism raid alongside her cousin Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of the leaders of the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris, including 90 at the Bataclan Theater.
French filmmaker Claire Denis, known for High Life, is supporting You Resemble Me as an executive producer. Denis will also join Amer in onstage conversations during the film’s theatrical run in France this fall.
You Resemble Me, which premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and won several awards, is also executive produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Riz Ahmed, and Alma Harel.
The film’s release in France will include “talkback sessions” aimed at raising awareness about preventing radicalization. Last year, a verdict was reached in the nearly 10-month trial concerning the 2015 Paris terror attacks. Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving planner of the attacks, received the heaviest sentence under French law.
Based on extensive research by Amer, an award-winning journalist, the film explores the roots of Islamic radicalization in France by depicting the troubled childhood of Aït Boulahcen. She grew up in a poor suburb of Paris with her younger sister and dysfunctional mother from Morocco. After being caught stealing food, she and her sister were separated and placed in different foster homes, despite their desire to stay together.
Feeling lonely, alienated, and desperate to belong, Aït Boulahcen was eventually influenced by her cousin to join a terror cell after seeing media reports of the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015. She died three days after the Bataclan attacks in a blast caused by another suspect’s explosives-filled vest.
Claire Denis Boards Dina Amer’s ‘You Resemble Me’ as Radicalization Drama Gets French Release (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/IxgumjMOPM via @variety
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Pierre-Emmanuel Le Goff, CEO of La Vingt-Cinquième Heure, expressed honor in presenting this powerful film. He noted the significance of addressing the 2015 attacks and engaging in public discussion about radicalization, Islamophobia, and the cycles of violence rooted in colonialism. He emphasized that the film is essential viewing to understand the impact of Western policies in the Middle East on global safety.
You Resemble Me stars Mouna Soualem, Sabrina Ouazani, Lorenza Grimaudo, Ilonna Grimaudo, Dina Amer, Grégoire Colin, and Zinedine Soualem. It is produced by Amer, Elizabeth Woodward at WILLA, and Karim Amer. Source
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