The special preview on 17 February will be followed by a discussion with Ben Hania who will be present in person.
Read MoreAwards hopefuls, indie gems and streaming must-watches: My BFI London Film Fest wish list
There is just so much good stuff screening at this year’s London Film Festival — from a documentary about a nearly-cancelled forever fashion icon, to a film featuring Austin Butler and Michael Shannon as bikers, to MENA gems, Oscars and Golden Globes hopefuls and indie treasures. So buckle your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy fortnight.
Read MoreForget Wonder Woman - I Found My Heroine Within ‘Beauty and the Dogs’ in Cannes!
Films featuring strong women are what I crave. But I won’t buy that typical Hollywood fare, which sells the perfect package of a buff heroine dressed in a shiny costume doing stunts as the perfect woman’s film. Nope. I need a real-life wonder woman to fulfill my cravings.
In Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s latest ‘Beauty and the Dogs’, which world premiered at the Festival de Cannes in their Un Certain Regard section, I found her.
Within the role of Mariam (played to absolute perfection by first-time actress Mariam Al Ferjani), your typical run of the mill modern university girl wanting to have fun on a night out at a club event we learn she helped to organize, I discovered a heroine that transcends the Arab world — Mariam’s story takes place in Tunisia — and jumped off the screen straight into my subconscious. And remained there, juggling with my thoughts, until now.
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