Rita Dagher

Rita Dagher’s fingerprints are all over some pretty bold films—A Prayer Before Dawn, Four Lions, Spun. She doesn’t pick boring projects, that’s for sure. A Prayer Before Dawn? Man, that’s a gut punch of a movie. Based on a true story, it throws you inside the brutal world of a British boxer locked up in a Thai prison. It’s raw, sweaty, violent—no Hollywood shine here. The camera doesn’t flinch, and neither does Dagher’s knack for picking stories that go way past your comfort zone. Then there’s Four Lions, which is just wild. It’s a dark comedy about a bunch of wannabe terrorists in England. Honestly, it shouldn’t work, but it does. It’s sharp, ridiculous, and somehow manages to be both hilarious and deeply unsettling. You can tell Dagher isn’t afraid to back risky scripts. She leans into satire and lets the insanity unfold with just the right amount of chaos. And Spun—okay, that’s a fever dream. Meth addiction, bad decisions, people unraveling in real time. It’s gritty, dirty, and doesn’t pretend otherwise. The camera whirls around like it’s on something itself. Dagher’s taste for stories that dig deep into the messy, uncomfortable side of life is kind of obvious at this point. She’s not the type to sugarcoat things, and that’s what makes her projects stick in your head long after the credits roll.