Bouchra

We are trained, from an early age, to be used to anthropomorphised animals, with Disney and Hanna Barbera doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Ask a group of people who their first crush was and there's a good chance that among the human heartthrobs, someone will cite foxy Robin Hood or Hong Kong Phooey. Visual artists Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki take the idea to a considerably more adult level in their debut hybrid feature Bouchra, a noirish story of identity and connection.

Bouchra (voiced by Bennani) is a jackal*. She is also a Moroccan filmmaker, whose relationship with her mother Aïcha (Yto Barrada) – who still lives in Casablanca – continues to be coloured by what her daughter views as a lack of support when she first announced she was a lesbian. The filmmakers embrace the emotional complexity of this with real-life phone calls that Bennani had with her own mother are used as a basis for these conversations. This isn’t about rejection but about navigating the difficulties full acceptance bring.

There’s a lot going on for Bouchra, who is also struggling with a film project while navigating various other relationships, including her ex Nikki (Ariana Faye Allensworth), who is a cow in the literal sense, and perhaps even slightly in the figurative, and her lizard mate Yani (Barki).

Although set in the present day, there’s a futuristic feel to this animation (headed by Jason Coombs), especially in the sparkle and shine of a New York night. It isn’t always as smooth as it might be – something the filmmakers’ say is partly the reason they chose the noir aesthetic – but the honesty of the conversations that the characters have helps to overcome this. The directors also employ Bouchra’s storyboards to good effect to help them get around moments that could be more tricky to animate.

There’s an adult approach to sex, too, with those scenes well handled in ways that carry a frisson and articulate the way that modern relationships can be fluid and tricky. If the budget was limited, the filmmakers’ ambition was not, as the film moves from New York to Casablanca and back again, allowing Bouchra to ruminate on what it means to be separated from your culture – another facet of herself that she perhaps doesn’t always feel able to fully show. The result is very much its own animal but one that many will see themselves reflected within.

*She has frequently been described as a coyote, including by the filmmakers, but as they explained to me in this interview, this was the original idea

Reviewed on: 04 Aug 2026