2024 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: Meryam Joobeur’s Motherhood

After thinking Motherhood might drop at a major film festival in 2023, we are now inclined to think that Meryam Joobeur might actually go back to the Sundance family who helped back the project. The Tunisian-American filmmaker’s breakout short Brotherhood premiered at the fest, and Motherhood received support via the Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab (2021) — it also landed the Sundance Institute/NHK Award. Production took place in Tunisia in 2022. It is now heading to the Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Ateliers for films in production (or post).

Gist: Salha, a mother gifted with prophetic dreams and visions, lives in an isolated village in Tunisia. When her eldest son’s sudden return from Syria coincides with a series of strange disappearances in their community, Salha’s maternal love is tested and the family faces how guilt can haunt the human spirit.

Production Co./Producers: Sarra Ben Hassen, Annick Blanc, Nadim Cheikhrouha, Maria Gracia Turgeon.

Prediction: World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Sales: Luxbox.