RATING: A

Fondazione Prada presents a 2 Lizards/Hi Productions film in association with SB Films. Directed by Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki. Produced by John Michael Bolling and Jason Coombs. Written by Meriem Bennani, Orian Barki, and Ayla Mrabel. Cinematography by John Michael Bolling.

Starring the voices of Meriem Bennani, Yto Barrada, Fatim-Zahra Alami, Dounia Berrada, Ariana Faye Allensworth, and Salima Dhaibi.

This animated film featuring live-action footage for some of its backgrounds is a wonderful semi-autobiographical film based on the life of one of the film’s directors.

Living in New York City, Moroccan-born Bouchra is a jackal who has been struggling with telling her mother the truth about her identity. An aspiring filmmaker, Bouchra wants to make her first film, but has trouble with what to make. Along her journey to find that idea, she finds herself entering a tryst with a cow named Nikki, who despite breaking things off, helps Bouchra by offering her a job.

The relationship between Bouchra and her mother Aicha, who lives in Casablanca, has been a bit estranged since coming out to her parents nearly a decade ago. Bouchra not only writes a letter but also attempts to reconnect with her mother through phone calls. As Bouchra finally embraces who she is, she is hoping her mother will finally accept her for who she is. And this becomes the spark she needs to create her film, one based on her life.

From the creators of the web series 2 Lizards comes this semi-autobiographical film based on the life of co-creator Meriem Bennani. A respected artist of the New York City scene these days, Bennani based the titular character on herself while using her aunt’s name for the character. Using a blend of live-action footage for its backgrounds and the Blender animation program, it is well done and people will resonate with the film’s story and its poignant imagery.

We see a combination of Bouchra’s trysts, which are tastefully done and do not resort to anything graphic, her attempt to be accepted not just with her mother, but joining the NYC ondazione LGBTQ+ crowd and making a friendship with lizard Yani (from 2 Lizards, being previously unnamed), and attempt to make her film. We see the more she finds herself, the better the idea comes and perhaps it will be the film that finally brings herself together with her family.

Bouchra is a surprise of a LGBTQ+ animated film that takes the true story of Meriem Bennani, and brings it to life in a way no one expected. The use of live-action footage and meshing it with Blender’s animation, along with the excellent voice cast (Bennani herself voices the titular character) makes it worth checking out!