Beauty and the Dogs has been selected for ”Un Certain Regard” at the 2017 Cannes Festival. Kaouther Ben Hania’s debute fiction film about a girl fighting for her restitution in a corrupt Tunisia is the first major fiction film with Laika as a co-producer.
The film is about Myriam, a young Tunisian student who, after visiting at a night club gets abused by three policemen. Despite the trauma and the pain, Myriam is adamant: She decides to file a complaint.
– The film is based on a true story that have shed light on women´s situation in Tunisia, says Andreas Rocksén, producer at Laika. The event has been a vivid part of public debate when Tunisia is now trying to build a functional democracy. This perspective was important when we at Laika decided to enter the project.”
Beauty And The Dogs has now been selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival 2017. The festival will take place from the 17th to the 28th of May.
– The fact that the movie has been selected for Cannes is amazing. Beauty and the Dogs is the first major feature film that Laika has been involved in and it has been a dynamic and encouraging experience. We have had the advantage to work with a very good manuscript and Kaouther Ben Hania is a fantastic director. We also feel that we have been able to contribute with something significant since the Swedish photographers Johan Holmqvist and Nestor Salazar have been essential for the artistic expression Kaouther has wished for.
The Film is a co production between Cinetelefilms (TN), Tanit Films (FR), Laika Film & Television AB, Chimney and Film i Väst et al. It has been supported in Sweden by the Swedish Film Institute and got an initial development grant at Malmö Arab Film Festival in 2015.
Beauty and the Dogs is distributed in Sweden by Folkets Bio and will have its Swedish premiere in the fall of 2017.