(Half)-Sisters
With the support of Film Fund Luxembourg
Leila and Dounia are half-sisters. On the eve of Leila's departure abroad, the day unfolds through the familiar routines of their lives. Between a haircut, a visit to their father and a farewell party, Leila and Dounia navigate memories, tensions, and silences. As the moment of separation draws closer, they search for a way to accept both what binds them and what sets them apart.
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Léo MisandeauDirector
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Anna FatholahzadehDirector
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Anna FatholahzadehWriter
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Misandeau LéoWriter
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Fatholahzadeh AnnaProducer
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Marco LorenziniKey Cast"The father"Gutland (2017), Wolfkin (2022), Le Tout Nouveau Testament (2015)
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Amal ChtatiKey Cast"Dounia"
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Anna FatholahzadehKey Cast"Leila"
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Andy-Lee HoareauSound engineer
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Julia CurezSound Mixing
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Hubrecht L. BrandFirst ADZodi
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Baptiste HalipreFirst AC
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Morgane Verdin-PolContinuity
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Enzo MaffeiGrip
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Martina RothHMC
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François SfalcinElectricians
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Misandeau MariusElectricians
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Tiphanie DevezinProduction management
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Project Title (Original Language):(Demi)-Sœurs
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Runtime:24 minutes 19 seconds
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Completion Date:January 8, 2025
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Production Budget:32,000 EUR
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Country of Origin:Luxembourg
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Country of Filming:Luxembourg
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Language:French, Luxembourgish
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:1:33
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Film Color:Black & White and Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
Anna Fatholahzadeh and Léo Misandeau first crossed paths at the University of Strasbourg in 2018, where they were both enrolled in the undergraduate film studies program. Their shared passion for cinema quickly fostered a close friendship, with Anna gravitating toward 1940s British cinema and Léo drawn to the vibrant world of Hong Kong cinema.
During his studies, Léo began directing and producing his first films independently. His second feature, Only the Sea Goes Away, earned an honorable mention at the 2023 Student World Impact Film Festival and was included in the official selection of the Golden Femi Film Festival the same year. Alongside feature filmmaking, Léo directed music videos for friends and expanded into commercial videography, working with artists and artisans on commissioned projects.
Meanwhile, Anna pursued acting and writing with equal fervor. In 2019, she made her professional acting debut at Luxembourg’s National Theater. Her focus later shifted toward scriptwriting, where she explored minimalist storytelling inspired by Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman. After completing her degree, Anna spent a year working as a humanitarian, while Léo advanced to the master’s program in film at the University of Strasbourg.
In early 2022, Anna had a vivid dream that sparked an idea for a film. She shared the concept with Léo, wrote a script, and together they traveled to Luxembourg’s Château de Kolpach to shoot screen tests over a weekend. Supported by two technicians and equipment from Luxembourg’s Centre National Audiovisuel, this collaboration laid the groundwork for future projects.
Later that year, Anna and Léo co-wrote their next script, inspired by Chris Marker and Alain Resnais’ Les Statues Meurent Aussi (1953). Their film, Les Statues Parlent Aussi, explores themes of exile and human rights violations through the lens of the mythologies surrounding Strasbourg’s Musée Michaelis statues. Completed in 2023, the film was entirely self-produced and directed by the duo.
In December 2023, after months of refining the script and visual concepts for their next project, (Demi)-Sœurs, they received the prestigious Carte Blanche Subvention. With this support, Anna and Léo brought their vision to life, directing and producing the film the following year.
DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT
Demi-Sœurs emerges from a profound exploration of identity and the intricate dynamics of family relationships. This narrative draws inspiration from Anna’s personal history, shaped by her dual cultural heritage and experiences within a blended family. This interplay of identities motivated Anna to craft the story of Dounia and Leila, two half-sisters in quest of stability and self-discovery. From the outset, Léo joined the writing process, providing an external perspective that enriched the narrative's depth.
At its essence, we believe cinema serves as a conduit for representing human experiences through everyday actions that some may deem trivial. Thus, we set the story within the last 24 hours the sisters spend together before Leila’s departure. This limited timeframe amplifies the emotional weight of their impending separation, rendering each gesture and moment laden with symbolic significance.
The chosen settings—the pool, the museum, and the family home—transcend mere backdrops; they serve as symbolic anchors reflecting the sisters’ emotions and inner struggles. Each location mirrors their emotional landscape, allowing us to minimize dialogue and let imagery and body language convey their story.
The pool symbolizes the delicate balance of the sisters’ relationship, evolving alongside their connection. Their synchronized movements in the water gradually unravel, mirroring the underlying tension in their bond. At Villa Vauban, a museum in Luxembourg, the architectural symmetry and art pieces mirror Leila’s internal conflict, her battle between familial loyalty and the longing for independence.
In the climactic party scene, Dounia expresses herself through dance while Leila remains on the periphery, emphasizing their contrasting modes of expression: Dounia thrives in movement, whereas Leila grapples with articulating her feelings through her body.
The visual and stylistic choices for Demi-Sœurs are deeply influenced by films that have profoundly shaped our artistic vision. To depict the characters' immersion in their environment, we drew inspiration from works such as Mirror (1975) by Tarkovsky, Eureka (2002) by Shinji Aoyama, and Burning (2018) by Lee Chang-dong. These influences guided our aim to create visual compositions where nature extends the characters’ emotions, infusing their journey with a meditative quality.
For the museum, we took inspiration from Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) but we also wished to create length in the space through the use of tracking rails and jump cuts, to document the rise of conflict in the discussion between Leila and her father, but also play with the themes displayed on the walls.
The pool, representing both unity and fragmentation, was filmed with the spirit of The Swimmer (1966) by Frank Perry and Still the Water (2014) by Naomi Kawase. Through overhead and extended tracking shots, we emphasized the grace and vulnerability of the sisters’ synchronized movements. The cool tones underscore their raw, exposed emotions, with the fluidity of water serving as a metaphor for transition and the unknown.
For the more intimate, introspective scenes, we looked to Paris, Texas (1984) by Wim Wenders and Black Narcissus (1947) by Powell and Pressburger, where natural light and contrasting colors convey complex, often contradictory feelings without excess.
Although the sisters share a close familial bond, we needed to create distinct personalities for Leila and Dounia. The natural switching between French and Luxembourgish in their dialogue reflects Luxembourg’s linguistic diversity and embodies the sisters’ multifaceted identities. Dounia’s emotional expressions in French and Leila’s connection to Luxembourgish illustrate their ties to their mothers and individual linguistic cultures.
Dounia, the younger sister, speaks little but communicates through gestures, often lost in introspective moments that reveal her need for physical connection. Leila, the elder, is more articulate, grounded in her words and emotional restraint. The staging contrasts their body language and verbal expressions to accentuate these differences: Dounia asserts herself through movement, while Leila observes with a more restraint bodily presence.
The artistic direction of Demi-Sœurs aims to capture the tension between intimacy and isolation within each character. Each shot is meticulously crafted to enhance the richness of their “half” relationship and the complexity of their differences.
The pivotal “floating” scene, which recurs at the film's conclusion with more liberated swimming movements, symbolizes mutual release and a newfound balance, even from a distance.
With an aesthetic that emphasizes symmetry, natural light, and textured visuals, Demi-Sœurs seeks to create a poetic and sensory experience that transcends labels. We aspire for this film to resonate with viewers, reminding them that the intricacies of family bonds—and human relationships in general—cannot be simplified into halves but instead reveal profound attachments oscillating between rootedness and freedom.
The target audience for Demi-Sœurs is broad, appealing to young adults and family drama enthusiasts alike. This film particularly resonates with those who have experienced family separations or significant shifts in their familial dynamics. It possesses both local relevance and universal appeal, capturing the widespread phenomenon of blended families, making it a story we hope will resonate across diverse backgrounds.
In the spirit of Georg Simmel’s concept of “the stranger as a traveler,” Leila embodies this role as she navigates her proximity to her family while striving to carve out her own identity.
This theme of belonging, tempered by the desire for independence, speaks to audiences who experience a sense of connection alongside feelings of distance from their origins, underscoring a universal aspect of human relationships: the ongoing quest for balance between attachment and autonomy, belonging and freedom, staying and leaving.