In a lull for specialty openings early in the new year, three foreign-language films are taking a shot. The Settlers, winner of the Cannes Un Certain Regard Fipresci Prize, and Inshallah A Boy are Cannes alumns and Oscar submissions from, respectively, Chile and Jordan (neither short-listed in a competitive field). Driving Madeleine is a crowd pleasing French film.
The Settlers is a western presented by Mubi in limited release at the IFC Center/NY and Laemmle Royal/LA. The debut feature by writer-director Felipe Galvez is a frontier epic set at the turn of the 20th century as three horsemen set out across the Tierra del Fuego archipelago tasked with securing a wealthy landowner’s vast property. Accompanying a reckless British lieutenant and an American mercenary is mestizo marksman Segundo, who comes to realize their true mission is much darker. Stars Mark Stanley, Camillo Arancibia and Benjamin Westfall. Screenplay by Galvez and Antonia Girardi.
The Settlers is a western presented by Mubi in limited release at the IFC Center/NY and Laemmle Royal/LA. The debut feature by writer-director Felipe Galvez is a frontier epic set at the turn of the 20th century as three horsemen set out across the Tierra del Fuego archipelago tasked with securing a wealthy landowner’s vast property. Accompanying a reckless British lieutenant and an American mercenary is mestizo marksman Segundo, who comes to realize their true mission is much darker. Stars Mark Stanley, Camillo Arancibia and Benjamin Westfall. Screenplay by Galvez and Antonia Girardi.
- 1/12/2024
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Italy, Scandinavia, Australia-New Zealand all jump in on the film.
Amjad Al Rasheed’s Jordanian drama Inshallah A Boy has sealed several additional territory deals ahead of its Arab premiere in the Red Sea Competition at Red Sea Film Festival today (Saturday December 2).
The film has sold to Italy (Satine), Scandinavia (Angel Film), Australia-New Zealand (Palace), Benelux (Arti film), Switzerland (Trigon), Eastern Europe (HBO Europe) and Indonesia (Falcon).
Greenwich Entertainment acquired US distribution rights on the film in August; the film had its world premiere in Critics’ Week at Cannes in May and North American launch at Toronto in September.
Amjad Al Rasheed’s Jordanian drama Inshallah A Boy has sealed several additional territory deals ahead of its Arab premiere in the Red Sea Competition at Red Sea Film Festival today (Saturday December 2).
The film has sold to Italy (Satine), Scandinavia (Angel Film), Australia-New Zealand (Palace), Benelux (Arti film), Switzerland (Trigon), Eastern Europe (HBO Europe) and Indonesia (Falcon).
Greenwich Entertainment acquired US distribution rights on the film in August; the film had its world premiere in Critics’ Week at Cannes in May and North American launch at Toronto in September.
- 12/2/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Former Mister Smith sales executive Antone Saliba has launched management and production company Untamed Talent, with the backing of Dubai-based Front Row Productions.
The latter company, which is a joint venture of leading Middle East distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment, will provide capital and strategic value for the new banner.
Saliba, who was a sales and acquisitions executive under David Garrett at Mister Smith, wants to create new content business models for the fast-growing entertainment sectors of the Swana region, covering Southwest Asia and North Africa.
As well as representing filmmakers from the established Mena industry hubs of Egypt and Saudi, the new company will also identify, develop, and promote talent from traditionally underrepresented countries within the region such as Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iran.
The company will work on a non-exclusive basis with production and distribution parties in the region, as well as U.
The latter company, which is a joint venture of leading Middle East distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment, will provide capital and strategic value for the new banner.
Saliba, who was a sales and acquisitions executive under David Garrett at Mister Smith, wants to create new content business models for the fast-growing entertainment sectors of the Swana region, covering Southwest Asia and North Africa.
As well as representing filmmakers from the established Mena industry hubs of Egypt and Saudi, the new company will also identify, develop, and promote talent from traditionally underrepresented countries within the region such as Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iran.
The company will work on a non-exclusive basis with production and distribution parties in the region, as well as U.
- 12/1/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
In Inshallah a Boy, a new film from Jordan, a young mother faces some grueling events. It’s set around the bustling capitol, Amman, a place where temperatures are rarely low. One morning, Nawal (Mouna Hawa) goes to wake her husband but finds him lifeless. She soon learns she is set to inherit their house and his truck, but also four overdue payments for the vehicle. The money is owed to the man’s brother, Rifqi (Haitham Omari), who, benefiting from the country’s Sharia inheritance system, can also claim a slice of Nawal’s home. To make matters worse, it transpires that her husband hasn’t been working in weeks and Nawal’s income won’t come close to cutting it. Our hero has two options: sell the truck and pay the debt or convince them all that she’s pregnant with a boy.
If that all sounds like...
If that all sounds like...
- 11/28/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Winner of the Gan Foundation Award and the Rail d'Or Award for Best Feature Film in Cannes, “Inshallah A Boy” is also Jordan's official submission for the 96th Academy Awards. Rasheed took inspiration from a law in Jordan, where if a woman loses her husband and doesn't have a son, part of the inheritance goes to her in-laws.
“Inshallah A Boy“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
This is exactly the situation Nawal, a nurse who takes care of an incapacitated old woman for a living, finds herself in, when her husband dies during his sleep, without leaving a will. Her and her little daughter have to face her husband's brother, Rifqi, who essentially wants to take their home from them and sell it, under the aforementioned law. Her only means to avoid losing her home and even the custody of her daughter is to give birth to a son.
“Inshallah A Boy“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
This is exactly the situation Nawal, a nurse who takes care of an incapacitated old woman for a living, finds herself in, when her husband dies during his sleep, without leaving a will. Her and her little daughter have to face her husband's brother, Rifqi, who essentially wants to take their home from them and sell it, under the aforementioned law. Her only means to avoid losing her home and even the custody of her daughter is to give birth to a son.
- 11/8/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
At the memorial gathering for her husband Adnan, 30-year-old Nawal (a riveting Mouna Hawa) is offered many empty words of support and so-called comfort by friends and family. “When a woman loses her husband, she loses her lover, her partner, everything in her life,” clucks a commiserating neighbor. What she fails to mention is how much is not lost, but can, under the Jordanian legal system so scathingly exposed in Amjad Al Rasheed’s fluid, gripping “Inshallah a Boy,” be taken. Employment, home, child, dignity – all can be summarily stripped from a widow who has committed the grievous crime of never having borne a son.
Al Rasheed’s precision-tooled movie is a social-realist drama rendered as an escape thriller where the labyrinth that Nawal must navigate is the Jordanian social order itself, a massive bureaucratic, patriarchal maze designed to ensure that any woman trying to evade its clutches will batter...
Al Rasheed’s precision-tooled movie is a social-realist drama rendered as an escape thriller where the labyrinth that Nawal must navigate is the Jordanian social order itself, a massive bureaucratic, patriarchal maze designed to ensure that any woman trying to evade its clutches will batter...
- 10/7/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/29/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/29/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Jordan has submitted Amjad Al-Rasheed’s female inheritance rights drama Inshallah A Boy for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
The picture made history earlier this year when it became the first Jordanian feature film to premiere in Cannes, when it was selected for parallel section Cannes Critics’ Week.
It won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, putting $21,000 towards distribution costs in France.
Greenwich Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film ahead of its North American premiere at TIFF earlier this month.
The Amman-set drama stars Muna Hawa as a newly widowed young woman, who is in danger of losing the home that she helped pay for with her late husband due to Jordan’s anachronistic inheritance laws.
In the face of pressure from her in-laws and with little support from her the wealthy household where she works as a carer for the ageing grandmother,...
The picture made history earlier this year when it became the first Jordanian feature film to premiere in Cannes, when it was selected for parallel section Cannes Critics’ Week.
It won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, putting $21,000 towards distribution costs in France.
Greenwich Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film ahead of its North American premiere at TIFF earlier this month.
The Amman-set drama stars Muna Hawa as a newly widowed young woman, who is in danger of losing the home that she helped pay for with her late husband due to Jordan’s anachronistic inheritance laws.
In the face of pressure from her in-laws and with little support from her the wealthy household where she works as a carer for the ageing grandmother,...
- 9/28/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/28/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Inshallah a Boy, the directorial debut of Amjad Al Rasheed which world premiered during the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week and is set to have its North American debut at TIFF next month.
Inshallah a Boy is being considered for Jordan’s Official Selection for Best International Feature Film and Greenwich will release the film in January.
The Imaginarium Films drama was co-written by Al Rasheed, Delphine Agut, and Rula Nasser. In the movie, after the sudden death of her husband, a widow fights for her inheritance to save her daughter and home. Inshallah a Boy examines a society where women are pressured to relinquish their property rights to male relatives and having a son would change everything.
“I’m beyond excited to collaborate with Greenwich on the upcoming theatrical release of my film,” said director Amjad al Rasheed.
Inshallah a Boy is being considered for Jordan’s Official Selection for Best International Feature Film and Greenwich will release the film in January.
The Imaginarium Films drama was co-written by Al Rasheed, Delphine Agut, and Rula Nasser. In the movie, after the sudden death of her husband, a widow fights for her inheritance to save her daughter and home. Inshallah a Boy examines a society where women are pressured to relinquish their property rights to male relatives and having a son would change everything.
“I’m beyond excited to collaborate with Greenwich on the upcoming theatrical release of my film,” said director Amjad al Rasheed.
- 8/21/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Nawal (Mouna Hawa) and Nora (Seleena Rababah). Amjad Al Rasheed: 'I love casting. I love to choose the right actor for the right character' Amjad Al Rasheed’s debut Inshallah A Boy follows mum Nawal (Mouna Hawa) as she find herself stripped of her rights after the sudden death of her husband. As she tries to stay strong for her young daughter Nora (Seleena Rababah), in the face of legal action from his family, she also becomes involved in helping a woman from the rich family where she works as a carer embark on a dangerous plan. The result is a social drama with a strong feminist streak that gradually ratchets up the tension. We caught up with Al Rasheed shortly after the film became the first Jordanian film to Cannes Film Festival to talk about its themes and the challenges of a first feature.
Can you start by...
Can you start by...
- 6/9/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In “Inshallah a Boy,” selected for Cannes’ Critics Week, women talk about sex and pregnancy. They also address misogyny and social injustice. But most of all, they say no.
“The main idea was to talk about a woman who refuses something that’s considered normal in her society,” points out director Amjad Al Rasheed, celebrating his feature debut.
In the Jordan-set film, Nawal (Mouna Hawa), after her husband’s sudden death, finds out that according to local inheritance law, and because she “only” gave birth to a daughter, his family might be entitled to everything she owns, including her home. Out of options, she pretends to be pregnant again.
Despite its Cannes premiere — and his previous win at Venice’s Final Cut — Al Rasheed remains cautious when discussing the film’s future reception at home.
“I can’t predict people’s reactions, but I am going to be honest: there...
“The main idea was to talk about a woman who refuses something that’s considered normal in her society,” points out director Amjad Al Rasheed, celebrating his feature debut.
In the Jordan-set film, Nawal (Mouna Hawa), after her husband’s sudden death, finds out that according to local inheritance law, and because she “only” gave birth to a daughter, his family might be entitled to everything she owns, including her home. Out of options, she pretends to be pregnant again.
Despite its Cannes premiere — and his previous win at Venice’s Final Cut — Al Rasheed remains cautious when discussing the film’s future reception at home.
“I can’t predict people’s reactions, but I am going to be honest: there...
- 5/18/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes Critics’ Week, a parallel film festival sidebar selected by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, has unveiled its 2023 selection of 11 features, including seven competition titles and four special screenings.
The section focuses on first and second features from emerging directors. The 62nd edition runs alongside the main Cannes festival May 17-25.
This year’s competition lineup includes two Asian horror movies: the Korean horror film Sleep (Jam) from first-time director, and former Bong Joon Ho assistant, Jason Yu, and Tiger Stripes from Malaysian director Amanda Eu. The former features Parasite star Lee Sun-kyun and Train to Busan‘s Jung Yu-mi as newlyweds whose lives descend into horror triggered by the husband’s strange behavior while asleep. Tiger Stripes, which draws inspiration from Southeast Asian folklore, is a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old girl whose body starts to change in alarming and horrifying ways as she hits puberty.
Physical changes...
The section focuses on first and second features from emerging directors. The 62nd edition runs alongside the main Cannes festival May 17-25.
This year’s competition lineup includes two Asian horror movies: the Korean horror film Sleep (Jam) from first-time director, and former Bong Joon Ho assistant, Jason Yu, and Tiger Stripes from Malaysian director Amanda Eu. The former features Parasite star Lee Sun-kyun and Train to Busan‘s Jung Yu-mi as newlyweds whose lives descend into horror triggered by the husband’s strange behavior while asleep. Tiger Stripes, which draws inspiration from Southeast Asian folklore, is a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old girl whose body starts to change in alarming and horrifying ways as she hits puberty.
Physical changes...
- 4/17/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannes Critics’ Week has announced the selection for its 62nd edition, running from May 17 to 25.
The parallel Cannes section will screen 11 features, seven in competition, and four as special screenings, selected from 1,000 submissions. Scroll down for the full list.
The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.
Stories of couples, parenthood, family relationships and friendships unfolding against difficult political or societal realities abound in this year’s line-up.
In Competition, Brazilian director Lillah Halla’s Power Alley (Levante) follows a budding teenage volleyball champion who discovers she is pregnant on the eve of an important championship and then comes up against Brazil’s abortion ban.
Blocked in her attempts to seek an illegal termination, the girl’s future seems to be in everyone’s hands but hers, until help comes from an unexpected quarter.
The parallel Cannes section will screen 11 features, seven in competition, and four as special screenings, selected from 1,000 submissions. Scroll down for the full list.
The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.
Stories of couples, parenthood, family relationships and friendships unfolding against difficult political or societal realities abound in this year’s line-up.
In Competition, Brazilian director Lillah Halla’s Power Alley (Levante) follows a budding teenage volleyball champion who discovers she is pregnant on the eve of an important championship and then comes up against Brazil’s abortion ban.
Blocked in her attempts to seek an illegal termination, the girl’s future seems to be in everyone’s hands but hers, until help comes from an unexpected quarter.
- 4/17/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The dark comedy won two 10,000 prizes.
Amjad Al Rasheed’s Inshallah A Boy picked up The Cell award for a digital camera package and the Rise Studios award, both worth 10,000, at the Cairo Film Connection, the co-financing platform of the Cairo International Film Festival.
There were 20 prizes given out across 15 projects, either in development or post-production, totalling 225,000 altogether.
Inshallah A Boy is the feature debut from former Screen Arab Star of Tomorrow Al Rasheed and follows a grieving widow at risk of losing her house due to inheritance laws. A co-production between Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the dark comedy...
Amjad Al Rasheed’s Inshallah A Boy picked up The Cell award for a digital camera package and the Rise Studios award, both worth 10,000, at the Cairo Film Connection, the co-financing platform of the Cairo International Film Festival.
There were 20 prizes given out across 15 projects, either in development or post-production, totalling 225,000 altogether.
Inshallah A Boy is the feature debut from former Screen Arab Star of Tomorrow Al Rasheed and follows a grieving widow at risk of losing her house due to inheritance laws. A co-production between Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the dark comedy...
- 11/21/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Amjad Al Rasheed’s feature debut “Inshallah a Boy” – co-produced by Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – was awarded La Biennale di Venezia Prize at Final Cut, an industry program at the Venice Film Festival dedicated to films from African and Arab countries.
Shot in February, with mostly Jordanian crew, it was lensed by Kanamé Onoyama.
In the story, a mother and a housewife – played by Mouna Hawa, known for “In Between” – has to face the sudden death of her husband. According to the inheritance law, his family is entitled to most of her belongings, including the home she paid for herself – just because she doesn’t have a son. Desperate, she pretends to be pregnant.
“So many people ask us: ‘Is this real? Do you really have this law?!’ It’s inspired by the experience of someone I know, someone close to me. But when we started to develop the story,...
Shot in February, with mostly Jordanian crew, it was lensed by Kanamé Onoyama.
In the story, a mother and a housewife – played by Mouna Hawa, known for “In Between” – has to face the sudden death of her husband. According to the inheritance law, his family is entitled to most of her belongings, including the home she paid for herself – just because she doesn’t have a son. Desperate, she pretends to be pregnant.
“So many people ask us: ‘Is this real? Do you really have this law?!’ It’s inspired by the experience of someone I know, someone close to me. But when we started to develop the story,...
- 9/8/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
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