“Divines,” the powerful film by French-Moroccan director Houda Benyamina, is in the race for the “Best Foreign Language Film” category at this year’s Golden Globes.
“It was a project that was complicated to fund, and to be here today on American soil, it’s a great reward for the whole team that had faith, a belief in this project, that is a girl’s dream about making it to the top,” Benyamina told AFP.
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a prestigious award given to the year’s best films in languages other than English.
Morocco has never been officially nominated by the Golden Globes in this category, and this is the first time a film by a Moroccan director is nominated for a Golden Globe.
“Divines” has already received several other accolades. At this year’s AFI Fest, Benyamina won the Audience Award and the film’s leading actress, Oulaya Amamra, won the ‘Special Mention’ New Auteurs Grand Jury Award.
At the Cannes Film Festival, Benyamina was awarded the Golden Camera Award, which recognizes the year’s best work released by first-time directors, the ‘Special Mention’ SACD Prize as well as the Queer Palm award.
The film was also recognized by the Hamptons International Film Festival, the London Film Festival and the Munich Film Festiva.
“Divines,” which was released on Nov. 18 on Netflix worldwide (except in France), follows the story of Dounia (Oulaya Amamra), a teenage girl living in the outskirts of Paris, striving to establish some form of dignity and, in her attempt to do so, joins the ranks of Rebecca, a known boss dealer in the neighborhood.
Amamra is also of Moroccan origin and happens to be the director’s little sister. During the casting process, however, Benyamina was vehemently against the idea of casting her little sister.
At this year’s Golden Globes, “Divines” competes against “Elle” (France), “Neruda” (Chile), “The Salesman” (Iran/France) and “Toni Erdmann” (Germany).

Source: Arab News