A
fashion student kicks back against misogyny and religious extremism in Mounia Meddour’s ambitious directorial debut
The title is Algerian slang for “cool girl” or “rebel girl” and Algerian film-maker Mounia Meddour brings a lot of empowering energy to this autobiographical debut feature, set in the 1990s during her country’s civil war, between government and Islamist militants. It is a sufficiently controversial subject for the film to be denied a release in Algeria last year, although it was the country’s entry for best foreign film Oscar, not nominated but selected for the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes and winning two French Césars.
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