Dina: I remember watching The Battle of Algiers and being so mind blown by the film. I was particularly inspired by the portrayal of these 3 women who were Algerian freedom fighters, and they were willing to become suicide bombers in the pursuit of creating a free Algeria. It was so clear to me in that moment that there was this lineage that was connected from that colonial moment to modern day violence happening in the name of so-called Islam. That there is a wound, there is a humiliation, a striving for dignity to fight against colonialism. Today we’re experiencing it in the name of Islam, but Hasna in many ways is the descendant of those women. It’s all being played out for political reasons. It’s just that today it is dressed in religion— but at the core it’s a political fight- and it’s one of trying to find dignity. That’s definitely not to justify violence— I think violence is never the way. But it was fascinating to be like ‘wow there’s this thread that connects these characters.’ And cinematically, my responsibility as a filmmaker, or my desire, was to make a film that felt like it was connected to The Battle of Algiers, and that these were characters who were resorting to violence in the worst way possible, but in an attempt to have some political effect on their destiny, and the destiny of their people. I loved this scene especially because you see these women who are getting dressed up and beautifying themselves so they can get past the checkpoint of these bombs. The subversion of it was just fascinating to me. And it reminded me of Hasna— she is not a modern day phenomenon, she belongs to a lineage of women who have been pulled into these political fights.