Strand Releasing Lands North American Rights To El Yousfi Debut — SkimNews
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- Strand Releasing acquired North American distribution rights to Hanaël El Yousfi's debut feature "The Daughters of Abraham" following its international premiere in the Discovery section at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
- The film follows Myriam and Eva, friends in their early twenties in Marseille, whose respective close-knit Muslim and Jewish families balance support for their independence against traditional expectations; it stars Mélissa Guers, Ava Baya, and Gabriella Cohen.
- The North American deal was brokered by Alice Lesort, Head of International Sales at Paris-based Losange Films, with Marcus Hu and Jon Gerrans of Strand Releasing; the film is written by El Yousfi with Raphaël Chevènement and Mia Grace Brown and produced by Charles Gillibert for CG Cinéma.
- Prior to TIFF, "The Daughters of Abraham" won the Audience Award and a Special Prize for the cast at France's Angoulême Francophone Film Festival; it opens in France on December 30 and is headed for a Latin American premiere at the Sao Paulo Film Festival.
- Director Hanaël El Yousfi said TIFF was where she realized the film "didn't belong to any one community, but to everyone who has ever had to negotiate the space between their heritage and their freedom," a quote Strand Releasing's Jon Gerrans echoed in calling the debut "profoundly universal."
- Strand Releasing is targeting a 2027 North American release, giving the specialty pickup a slower festival-to-theatrical runway than a quick-flush streaming acquisition.
Why it matters: Strand Releasing's 2027 release window gives this interfaith-framed French debut a longer festival-to-theatrical runway than a quick-streaming pickup, with the Angoulême Audience Award and a TIFF Discovery slot already providing the festival-circuit credibility specialty distributors lean on. For El Yousfi — a first-time filmmaker whose film touches both Muslim and Jewish family dynamics in a single frame — a U.S. specialty release keeps the work in the theatrical conversation rather than letting it get absorbed into a streaming queue.
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