The first trailer for “You Resemble Me,” the feature directorial debut of “The Square” associate producer Dina Amer, has been unveiled. The film debuted at Venice in 2021 and has had a stellar festival run since, picking up plaudits on the way.
The film, executive produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Riz Ahmed and Alma Har’el, tells the true story of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a woman who was falsely accused of being Europe’s first female suicide bomber. It follows two sisters on the outskirts of Paris and after the siblings are torn apart, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world.
The starting point for the film was the Bataclan attacks in Paris, where Amer was a journalist reporting on the scene.
“As a Muslim Egyptian woman living in the West, I’ve struggled to reconcile pieces of my identity that feel contradictory. I am a woman who has spent the majority of my life praying discreetly in public spaces (airports are the hardest). And yet I don’t look like what most of society envisions as a Muslim woman. I don’t wear a hijab and I love Cardi B,” Amer says in her director’s statement on the film.
“Throughout my life I’ve lived through the shadow of how the failure to reconcile a Muslim Western identity with such clear contradictions can result in a haunting headline,” Amer adds. “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.”
The cast includes Lorenza Grimaudo, Ilonna Grimaudo, Mouna Soualem, Sabrina Ouazani and Amer. The film opens Nov. 4 in New York City and Nov. 11 in Los Angeles, with a U.S. national rollout to follow. During these, there will be Q&As with Indya Moore, Ramy Youssef, Crystal Moselle, Alma Har’el, Darius Marder and Amy Berg.
Watch the trailer here: