Director: Anna Broinowski
2007
100 minutes

In July 2004, Norma Khouri, best-selling author of Forbidden Love, was exposed as a fake. She’s won fame and fortune as a Jordanian virgin with a fatwah on her head for her campaign against honour killings. But she was really Norma Bagain, an alleged Chicago con artist on the run from the FBI for one million dollars of fraud.Spinning murder, greed and literary scandal into a web that entangles us all, Forbidden Lie$ is a real-life thriller for our time.

Festivals

Adelaide FF 2007; HOTDOCS Festival 2007 (Canada); Melbourne FF 2007; Vancouver FF 07; Sheffield Documentary FF 07; London Australian FF 08; International Festival of Muslim Cinema in (Tartastan); San Francisco International Film Festival; Aljazeera Documentary Film Festival; Rome FF

Awards:

  • HOTDOCS Festival 2007 (Canada): Voted in Top 5 for Audience Award
  • Winner: CULT Prize for Best Documentary – Rome FF 07
  • Winner: Best Documentary – 2007 AFI Awards
  • Winner: Best Editing in a Documentary – AFI Awards (Vanessa Milton & Alison Croft)
  • Winner: Best Documentary – Film Critics Circle of Aust
  • Winner: Best Documentary – Australian Film Critics Association
  • Winner: Golden Award – Aljazeera Documentary Film Festival (Qatar)
  • Winner: Special Jury Prize in the San Francisco International Film Festival
  • Winner: NSW Premier’s Script Writing Award 2008
  • Winner: Russian Film Critics’ Federation Prize for Best Film – International Festival of Muslim Cinema in (Tartastan) 2008
  • Winner: Golden Minbar’ for Best Documentary – International Festival of Muslim Cinema in (Tartastan) 2008
Film Type Documentary
Director Anna Broinowski
Producer Anna Broinowski, Sally Regan & Liberty Productions