Festival Season:
September 2025
HYPHEN
Directors:
Writers:
Reine Razzouk
Producers:
Reine Razzouk
Run Time:
1:38:00
Awarded for the following Category(s):
Awarded Category(s)
When Nicole reveals to her childhood friend and cousin, Reine, that she’s been addicted to heroin since she was 13, they decide to document Nicole’s rehab journey. Hyphen follows her struggle to move out into the world as an adult and grown woman despite the lack of economic opportunities and a poisonous cultural upbringing that teaches young women to suppress their ideas and sexuality and to follow a set of religious and cultural rules.
Submitter Statement
Growing up in Ain el Remmeneh, the epicenter of the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), logically, I was immersed in the divisive mentality of “us” and “them”.
When I began filming Nicole’s healing journey, I wanted to shed light on the issues of my community, the emotional wounds of the war and the consequences of growing up in such a divided society. However over the span of 10 years, my motivation behind the film evolved and expanded. I realized that Nicole’s relationship with her parents, her addiction and her struggle for self expression mirrored the disconnect and anger many young Lebanese people feel towards the older generation and their parents. This younger Lebanese generation is eager to break free from the conservative religion-focused norms that stigmatize self-expression, sexuality, feminism, and political freedom. By taking a harsh look at family strife, addiction, female sexuality and the post-war Lebanese society, Hyphen is a devastating essay on the precariousness of becoming the woman you want to be when you’ve had little guidance to that end.
Reine Razzouk is a Lebanese filmmaker, screenwriter, and assistant director. She holds a bachelor's degree in audiovisual and a master's degree in cinema directing from ALBA – Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts in Beirut. Reine has worked on numerous major commercials and feature films with renowned directors such as Ziad Doueiri, Mira Nair, Abdelrahman Sissako, and Maryam Keshavarz. She has also collaborated closely with international talents including Golshifteh Farahani, Neha Dhupia, and Adil Hussain.
She worked on all the official FIFA World Cup music videos in 2022, produced by Katara Studios in Qatar, and has served for many years with the Doha Film Institute in the Guest Relations Department for both the Qumra industry event and Ajyal Film Festival.
Her first feature documentary Hyphen has won multiple awards and continues to screen at international festivals. In parallel, Reine continues to work as a freelance assistant director while developing her first narrative feature. She recently served as an international jury member at the MOOOV Film Festival in Turnhout, Belgium.
Key Cast
Nicole Daccache, Reine Razzouk, Diana Farhat
Other Credits
Associate Producer: Maria Termanini; Cinematographer: Talal Khoury, Rachelle Noja; Production Designer: Issa Kandil; Editor: Zeina Aboul Hosn, Reine Razzouk; Assitant Editor: Joy Hallak, Paul Haddad; Music & Sound Design : Karim Khneisser; Graphic Designer: Bayan Dahdah; Sound Editor: Haitham Atme; Sound Mixing & Mastering: Samy Gharbi; Colorist: Chrystel Elias; Online Artist: Sebastien Leclercq; Sound Recordist: Rawad Hobeika