''Rabia'' is a 2024 French-language film directed by Mareike Engelhardt and starring
Megan Northam
Megan Northam is a French actress. She was nominated for the 2025 César Award for Best Female Revelation for her role in the film '' Rabia'' (2024).
Early life
She was born and raised in Nantes, she is the daughter of an English scenographer ...
, Natacha Krief and
Lubna Azabal
Lubna Azabal (born 15 August 1973) is a Belgian actress.
Career
Azabal was born on 15 August 1973 in Brussels to a Moroccan father and a Spanish mother.ISIS
Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...
fighters. However, once in
Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
, her name is changed to Rabia and she is introduced to the formidable Madame.
Cast
*
Megan Northam
Megan Northam is a French actress. She was nominated for the 2025 César Award for Best Female Revelation for her role in the film '' Rabia'' (2024).
Early life
She was born and raised in Nantes, she is the daughter of an English scenographer ...
as Jessica
* Natacha Krief as Laila
*
Lubna Azabal
Lubna Azabal (born 15 August 1973) is a Belgian actress.
Career
Azabal was born on 15 August 1973 in Brussels to a Moroccan father and a Spanish mother.Arte France Cinéma, German company Starhaus Production and Belgium's Kwassa Films and RTBF. It is written and directed by Mareike Engelhardt, in her debut feature film. Director of photography is Agnés Godard. Engelhardt said she wished to explore how the propaganda and radicalisation of
Islamic State
The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...
would focus not on the war, but on "emotions, the desire for our life to have meaning, to belong to a family, to be loved."
Engelhardt wrote the script with Samuel Doux. In 2019, the project won the International Arte Kino Award at the
Les Arcs Film Festival
Les Arcs Film Festival is an annual European film festival held every December in Les Arcs in the French Alps.
Profile
Les Arcs was co-founded in 2009 by Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin (CEO), Guillaume Calop (general manager), and Jérémy Zelnik ...
. Grand Huit’s Lionel Massol and Pauline Seigland produced the film, which entered
principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
in November 2022, and concluded in January 2023 with a cast led by
Megan Northam
Megan Northam is a French actress. She was nominated for the 2025 César Award for Best Female Revelation for her role in the film '' Rabia'' (2024).
Early life
She was born and raised in Nantes, she is the daughter of an English scenographer ...
and
Lubna Azabal
Lubna Azabal (born 15 August 1973) is a Belgian actress.
Career
Azabal was born on 15 August 1973 in Brussels to a Moroccan father and a Spanish mother.Dordogne
Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...
and in
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
.
Release
The film was released in France on 27 November 2024.
Reception
Megan Northam was nominated for the 2025
César Award for Best Female Revelation
The César Award for Best Female Revelation () is one of the César Awards, presented annually by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma to recognize the outstanding breakthrough performance of a young actress who has worked within the F ...