US Trailer for Acclaimed Drama ‘You Resemble Me’ About Two Sisters
by Alex Billington
October 21, 2022
Source: YouTube
“A powerful cry from the heart.” Dedza Films + Willa Productions have unveiled an official US trailer for a French / Egyptian project titled You Resemble Me, an emotional drama about two sisters – marking the feature debut of filmmaker Dina Amer. This first premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival last year in the Critics’ Week sidebar, and has played at many other fests, including at the 2022 Santa Barbara Film Festival earlier this year. When two young sisters are torn apart, the older one loses her identity and transforms into someone new in the name of belonging and resistance. It’s been 7 years since Bataclan and the shocking incident with Hasna Aït Boulahcen. Inspired by true events, You Resemble Me tells her story. In narrative form, the film recounts Hasna’s upbringing, the unfortunate events that led to her choices, and the way she was depicted in the media. “An insistence on lifting the veils and beginning the conversations that conceal our shared humanity.” Starring Lorenza Grimaudo, Ilonna Grimaudo, Mouna Soualem, Sabrina Ouazani, and many others. This looks fascinating and powerful in many unique ways. Take a look below.
Here’s the official US trailer (+ poster) for Dina Amer’s You Resemble Me, direct from YouTube:
“This film is a journey through layers of disassociation, from the personal and familial to the religious and colonial; a kaleidoscope of splintered identities and fractured dreams. You Resemble Me explores the unexamined roots of trauma and the devastating decision that one woman made in the name of belonging. The mission of this film is not to excuse her choice but to examine how she arrived at that decision. The intention of this exploration is that it can help inform us as a society how to safeguard other individuals from falling into the same traps. In the making of the film, I drew from my experience within underserved and marginalized communities; there are so many people who resemble the main character, Hasna. Many people desperately seek a sense of identity, family, direction, and love in all the wrong places, yet some – like Hasna – grab our attention in the worst way when their search goes wrong.” –Director Dina Amer
You Resemble Me tells the true story of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a woman who was falsely accused of being Europe’s first female suicide bomber. Cultural and intergenerational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris. After the siblings are torn apart, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world. Director Dina Amer takes on one of the darkest issues of our time and deconstructs it in an intimate story about family, love, sisterhood, and belonging. You Resemble Me is directed by the Egyptian-American filmmaker / journalist Dina Amer, making her feature directorial debut after working on the doc film The Square previously. The screenplay is written by Dina Amer and Omar Mullick. It’s executive produced by fellow filmmakers Spike Jonze, Spike Lee, Riz Ahmed, and Alma Har’el. This originally premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival last year, playing in the Critics’ Week sidebar there, before screening at many other international festivals. Dedza Films will release Amer’s You Resemble Me in select US theaters (starting in NYC) on November 4th, 2022 coming soon this fall.