Melliti, 23, plays a 17-year-old in a coming-of-age tale centred on a teenage Muslim girl in Paris who faces a struggle with her identity and religion.
French artist of Maghrebi descent Nadia Melliti won the best actress award at the Cannes film festival for her first-ever performance in a film, “The Little Sister” by Hafsia Herzi.
Melliti, 23, plays a 17-year-old in a coming-of-age tale centred on a teenage Muslim girl in Paris who faces a struggle with her identity and religion.
She beat Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence in “Die My Love” by Lynne Ramsay, Japanese child revelation Yui Suzuki in “Renoir” by Chie Hayakawa and Elle Fanning in “Sentimental Value” by Joachim Trier.
“It’s a huge honour to be here tonight and to have been able to take part in this very beautiful project,” she said clutching her award on stage.
“I have such a feeling gushing through me right now. I can’t describe it but it’s really incredible,” she said as the director sobbed in the audience.
“Thank you Mum. I know you’re watching and I hope you are very proud and happy,” she said.
Melliti is a French student and amateur football player who was spotted in the street.
Before walking the red carpet for the premiere of Hafsia Herzi’s “The Little Sister”, she was preparing for exams.
In the coming-of-age tale, she plays 17-year-old Fatima, a Muslim girl in Paris struggling with her identity and religion as she explores her sexuality.
“I’ve never done any theatre or cinema,” she said.
But she said she immediately empathised with the character when she read the script, based on a partly autobiographical novel of the same name by French writer Fatima Daas.
“I identified hugely with Fatima, her surroundings and origins. My mother hails from an immigrant background,” she said.
“My roots are Algerian. I also have sisters.”
Melliti said she specifically related to the film’s theme of “emancipation” in the film.
“When I was younger I wanted to play football. I still do today,” said the actor. “I wanted to take up the sport, one people say is masculine and in which men are over-represented.
“And when I took that home, there was this emancipation, even if for Fatima it was different, more linked to her intellect and sexuality,” she added.
Melliti said she could not believe her luck when she was spotted by a casting agent in the street near a large shopping mall in central Paris.
“I was walking in the street and (she) called out to me,” she said.
At first “I thought she was a tourist and I wondered if my English would be up to scratch.”
source/content: thearabweekly.com (headline edited)
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Nadia Melliti, winner of the Best Actress award for her role in the film La petite dernière (The Little Sister), poses during a photocall after the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24, 2025. REUTERS
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FRENCH / ALGERIAN
