One of the most popular films we presented this year in conjunction with the San Francisco International Film Festival, Louise, the Rebel was co-winner of the coveted Prix Georges Sadoul for a first feature by a new director. It is set in a subculture of Tunisian Jewish immigrants in Paris, who are cloistered from the larger Parisian society as well as from the other immigrant cultures around them. Ten-year-old Louise is one of three daughters living under the iron hand of their mother's strict adherence to Sephardic traditions. But Louise, thanks to television and school, is aware of a whole world beyond their suburban apartment and is champing at the bit of her mother's restraints. When she rebels, she does so with almost tragic violence, out of the kind of mad love that feeds conflicts between mothers and daughters. Featuring a fine performance by Myriam Stern in the title role, Louise, the Rebel provides a rare portrait of a little known culture and, moreover, an intelligent and provocative exploration of the imprisonment of its women--Louise, by her mother, and the mother by her education, her prejudices, and her husband.