Director Husson was inspired to make the film after reading about the exploits of real-life Kurdish women who were taken hostage by Islamic State fighters as they swept across Syria and Iraq, but managed to escape and then took up arms against their former captors.
This role comes to the versatile, Paris-based Farahani after Pirates Of The Caribbean and Salazar’s Revenge. This year, she will also be seen in The Upside, and the zombie thriller, The Night Eats The World. Cannes best actress winner Emmanuelle Bercot (Mon Roi) co-stars as journalist Mathilde who is embedded with the female fighters to cover the early days of the offensive.
