Hafsia Herzi

Hafsia Herzi (born 25 January 1987) is a French actress, screenwriter, and director. She is best known for her debut role in the award-winning Franco-Tunisian feature The Secret of the Grain for which she won the award for most promising actress at the César Awards 2008, and the Marcello Mastroianni award, for best emerging actor/actress at the 64th Venice International Film Festival.^[1]

Hafsia Herzi
Hafsia Herzi at the 2018 Cabourg Film Festival
Born	(1987-01-25) 25 January 1987 (age 37) Manosque, France
Occupation(s)	Actress, film director
Years active	2007–present

Early life

Herzi is of Tunisian descent from her father and Algerian from her mother, and is the youngest of a family of four children (two brothers and a sister, Dalila). After her parents' divorce, her father remarried in Algeria. Her mother lives in Marseille, where Herzi grew up.

Career

Acting

Herzi's film debut is 2007's The Secret of the Grain.^[2] She has also appeared in 2011's House of Tolerance.^[3]

In 2016, Herzi starred in Sex Doll.^[4] Aside from her French film work, she has also appeared in American independent films War Story and This Teacher.^[5][6]

Filmmaking

In 2019, Herzi directed her first feature film, You Deserve a Lover.^[7] In June 2021, her second feature, Good Mother (Bonne Mère), was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.^[8] At Cannes, it won the Ensemble Prize in the Un Certain Regard section.^[9]

Personal life

Herzi has a son with her partner, cyclist Nacer Bouhanni.^[10][11]

In 2017, Herzi had an altercation with a chauffeur after the latter declined her request for a detour.^[12] According to Herzi, the chauffeur had previously made sexual innuendos alluding to nude scenes in her films and accusing her of violating religious morals.^[13] She was cleared of charges of insult by the court of first instance,^[14] but the Court of Appeal of Paris found her guilty of non-public racial insult.^[15]

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	The Secret of the Grain	Rym	César Award for Most Promising Actress Lumières Award for Most Promising Actress Marcello Mastroianni Award Shooting Stars Award
2008	Dawn of the World	Zahra
	A Man and His Dog	Leïla
2009	The King of Escape	Curly Durandot
	Buried Secrets	Aïcha
2010	The Rabbi's Cat	Zlebia	Voice
2011	Jimmy Rivière	Sonia
	House of Tolerance	Samira
	The Source	Loubna Esmeralda
2012	The Inheritance	Hajar
2013	Exit Marrakech	Karima
	The Marchers	Monia
	On My Way	Jeanne
2014	Le Sac de farineh	Sarah
	Certifiée Halal
	War Story	Hafsia
2015	Par accident	Amra
2016	Sex Doll	Virginie
2017	Des plans sur la comète	Inès
	Of Skin and Men	Amel
	Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno	Camélia
2018	Féminin plurielles	Hafsia Chouchane
	Black Tide
	Le Banc
	This Teacher
2019	You Deserve a Lover	Lila	Also as director
	Mektoub My Love: Intermezzo	Camélia
	Persona non grata	Iris
2021	Madame Claude	Nadège
	Good Mother	—	Director
	À l'ombre des filles	Jess
2022	Three Nights a Week	Samia
	La Gravité	Sabrina
	La Cour	—	Director
2023	The Rapture	Lydia
	Borgo	Melissa
2024	My New Friends †		World premiere at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival[16]

References

1. Dupont, Joan (2008-02-21). "Hafsia Herzi portrays another France in 'La graine et le mulet'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-02-08.
2. Mandelbaum, Jacques (14 July 2009). ""Ne pas être cantonnée à l'Arabe de service"". Le Monde. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
3. Feinstein, Howard (16 May 2011). "House Of Tolerance". Screen Daily. Screen International. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
4. Goldstein, Gary (9 February 2017). "European drama 'Sex Doll' is a meandering take on a high-end call girl". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
5. Michael, Chris (28 January 2014). "War Story – first look review". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
6. Sarachan, Risa (28 September 2020). "'This Teacher,' Mark Jackson's Provocative Film About Fear And Racism In America". Forbes. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
7. Young, Deborah (20 May 2019). "'You Deserve a Lover' ('Tu merites un amour'): Film Review | Cannes 2019". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
8. Sharf, Zack (10 June 2021). "Cannes Film Festival 2021 Lineup: Sean Baker, Wes Anderson, and More Compete for Palme d'Or". IndieWire. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
9. Soriano, Jianne (18 July 2021). "Cannes Film Festival 2021: Full Winners List". Asia Tatler. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
10. Goldszal, Clémentine (10 October 2023). "Le cinéma fait femmes d'Hafsia Herzi". Le Monde. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
11. Kachour, Walid (3 October 2023). "Nacer Bouhanni en couple : qui est sa compagne Hafsia Herzi ?". Télé-Loisirs. Prisma Media. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
12. Dubois, Camille (5 December 2019). "Hafsia Herzi condamnée pour injure raciale contre un chauffeur VTC". Purepeople. Webedia. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
13. "Un Arabe peut-il traiter un Arabe de « sale Arabe » ? Deuxième acte". Le Point. 7 September 2018.
14. "Hafsia Herzi condamnée pour avoir traité un chauffeur VTC de « sale Arabe »". Le Point. 4 December 2019.
15. "L'actrice française Hafsia Herzi condamnée pour avoir traité un chauffeur de "sale Arabe"". RTL info. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
16. Goodfellow, Melanie (17 January 2024). "Berlinale Unveils Full Panorama, Forum & Generation Line-Ups With New Films By Nathan Silver, Levan Akin, André Téchiné & Bruce LaBruce". Deadline. Retrieved 27 January 2024.

External links

• Hafsia Herzi at IMDb
• 2009 Interview with Hafsia Herzi at Cineuropa.org
• Hafsia Herzi Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Shooting Stars profile