Survival of the Fittest: Mareike Engelhardt Locks Up Megan Northam & Lubna Azabal for “Rabia”

Another feature film debut we’ve been tracking as of late (it was awarded some coin via the Arte Kino International Prize during Les Arcs Coproduction Village in late 2021) will indeed move into production later this year. Long established shorts filmmaker Mareike Engelhardt (who was an assistant director on Bozon’s Mrs. Hyde and Atef’s More Than Ever) will shoot Rabia in November into December and we’ve just learned that up-and-comer actress Megan Northam with topline the prison film alongside veteran Lubna Azabal.

To be filmed in Jordan and produced by France’s Films Grand Huit, this is about a 19-year-old named Rabia (Northam) who sets off for jihad in Syria and finds herself locked up in a women’s house with a hundreds of other young people from all over the world. In order to survive, she becomes the assistant of the director and develops a master-slave relationship that eventual breaks her spirit.

Northam’s previous features include supporting roles in Constance Meyer’s Robust (2021 – Critics’ Week) and Mikhaël Hers’ The Passengers of the Night (Berlinale 2022).