Bouchra
Wrestling with writer’s block for her first film, Bouchra, a queer Moroccan coyote living in NYC, starts having difficult yet overdue phone calls with her mother in Casablanca that begin influencing the project. Balancing the precarity of working as an artist in the United States, the rift in her identity between her two homes and an array of friendships and romantic interests, Bouchra’s emotional reckoning with her mother and herself becomes her path to expression.
With a lived-in granularity and unmistakable visual style, BOUCHRA, the feature debut from acclaimed visual artists Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki (best known together from their 2020 web series 2 LIZARDS), is a singular portrait effortlessly towing the line between documentary, visual art and resonant family drama. Deeply felt, surprisingly sexy and formally adventurous, Bennani and Barki’s distinctive debut forges new ground that “will make it a classic of queer cinema for years to come” (Next Best Picture).
Director & Cast
- Director: Orian Barki
- Director: Meriem Bennani
- Starring: Meriem Bennani
- Starring: Orian Barki
- Starring: Ariana Faye Allensworth
- Starring: Fayçal Azizi
- Starring: Yto Barrada
Where to Watch
Trailer
Photos
Reviews
- "An aesthetically bold, personal animation...an inventive approach."
- "Far from reiterating tired binaries -- tradition versus modernity, elders versus youngsters -- the film embraces the beauty of contradictions with open arms."
- "[U]nusual, surprising, and often moving...."
- "[A] surreal, animated autofiction musing on queerness, creativity and the North African diaspora. [E]verything about it is made with such intelligence and rigour...."
- "Between the animation style and the decidedly adult content, the film’s ultimate sweetness is completely disarming. It doesn’t come out of nowhere, though, as it’s rooted in the same emotional honesty that marks all of the film’s dialogue. That quality will make it a classic of queer cinema for years to come, but its unique wavelength will make it a film that means everything to young adults who are already on that wavelength, and that makes it worth everything."
- "Bouchra is a touching and inventive film... that insists on new forms and a new cinematic language. For this alone, it should be sought out and cherished."
- "Bouchra is gorgeous to look at. It’s wistful and charming. The story feels universal because its characters and interactions are so specific. It’s wonderful to see such a touching and hopeful queer story centering characters from other backgrounds."
- "I sincerely hope that Bouchra gets a wide release somehow. Not only is the film beautiful to look at, a feat of animation, and a triumph of complex storytelling, but it’s also a story of queer acceptance that is needed around the world today."
Gold Q-Hugo
Chicago Int'l. Film Festival
Prix Nouvelles Vagues Acuitis
La Roche-sur-Yon Int'l. Film Festival
Platform Award
Toronto Int'l. Film Festival
New York Film Festival
Thessaloniki Int'l. Film Festival
Now Playing
Venue |
City |
State |
Begins |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wicked Queer: Boston's LGBTQ+ Film Festival | Cambridge | MA | April 3, 2026 | |
| Wisconsin Film Festival | Madison | WI | April 9, 2026 | |
| Milwaukee Film Festival | Milwaukee | WI | April 16, 2026 | |
| Metrograph | New York City | NY | June 26, 2026 | |
| Gene Siskel Film Center | Chicago | IL | June 26, 2026 | |