19 June 2023:
Amjad Al-Rasheed's INSHALLAH A BOY — which was recently crowned with the Gan Foundation and Rail d’ Or awards at Cannes — is set to screen not once, but thrice as part of the Horizons Section of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the presence of its director before also screening at the upcoming Sydney Film Festival.
The film is scheduled to screen on July 1st at 10 pm at the festival’s Pupp Cinema, July 7th at 3 pm at its Small Hall, and July 8th at 1 pm at the Karlovy Vary Municipal Theater, with Al-Rasheed expected to hold Q&A sessions with audiences after the second and third screenings. Meanwhile, the festival at large will be running from June 30th to July 8th.
INSHALLAH A BOY garnered immediate widespread acclaim when it recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics Week, with Ankit Jhunjhunwala from the International Cinephile Society writing: “Based on this gripping new film, anticipation for subsequent films from this region should be high.”
Meanwhile, David Katz from View of the Arts rated the film five out of five and described it as “a powerful film that brings to light the complex interplay between tradition, gender, and inheritance.”
Amber Wilkinson from Eye for Film gave the film a perfect rating as well and praised the director’s efforts, writing that “Amjad Al Rasheed — who collaborated on the script with Rula Nasser and Delphine Agut — shows strong control of the mood in his first film,” and Deed’s Shahram Ashraf Abyaneh described it as “a breathtaking marathon about a woman ensnared in the spider web of a male-dominant society held together by tradition and religion.”
The film follows the recently widowed Nawal, who has to save her daughter and home following her husband’s death in a society where having a son is a game changer.
INSHALLAH A BOY The film kicked off its journey as a project, joining several international workshops, including the 79th Venice International Film Festival's Final Cut, where it nabbed a La Biennale di Venezia Prize and a cash award. Moreover, it received two cash awards from the El Gouna Film Festival and Festival International de Films de Fribourg.
INSHALLAH A BOY also received production and post-production support from Jordan's Royal Film Commission in two cycles, a post-production grant from the Red Sea Lodge, production support from the Doha Film Institute, a post-production Award from CNC, a monetary prize from the Arab Radio and Television Network at the fifth Cairo Film Connection, and a post-production award from the Atlas Workshop.
Directed by Al-Rasheed and co-written alongside Delphine Agut and Rula Nasser, the film stars Mouna Hawa, Haitham Omari, Salwa Nakkara, Yumna Marwan, Mohammad Al-Jizawi, Islam Al-Awadi, and Celina Rabab'a.
Additionally, the film was produced by Nasser and Abu Ayyash; co-produced by Youssef Abdelnabi, Raphaël Alexandre, and Nicolas Leprêtre; associate produced by Alaa Karkouti, Maher Diab, and Shahinaz El-Akkad; lensed by Kanamé Onoyama; edited by the prolific Ahmed Hafez; sound mixed by Nour Halawani; and scored by Jerry Lane. Also, Zeina Soufan and Nasser Zoubi served as the project's costume and production designers respectively.
In terms of the larger companies at play, the film was produced by Imaginarium Films and co-produced by Georges Films and Bayt Al-Shawareb. Meanwhile, MAD Solutions and Lagoonie Film Production are in charge of distributing it all over the Arab world and Pyramide International is handling international sales and distribution in France.
This film marks Al-Rasheed's second collaboration with MAD, as the distribution giant handled marketing for his short film THE PARROT, which he co-directed.
The film went on to receive several international awards, including the Jury Award for Best Short Film at the Mizna's Twin Cities Arab Film Festival in the US and the Malmö Arab Film Festival. The film also held its world premiere at the 2016 Dubai International Film Festival and is available for streaming on OSN.
A Jordanian director and writer born in 1985, Al-Rasheed holds an MFA in cinematic arts with a focus on directing and editing. In 2016, he was selected by Screen International as one of five Arab Stars of Tomorrow — a list highlighting the up-and-coming young talents of the region. He also attended the Talent Campus during the 57th Berlinale, after which he directed short films that garnered nominations and won prizes at various Arab and international film festivals.
His filmography includes THE PARROT — a short film he co-directed in 2016 that was funded by the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung — HIT THE ROAD (2011), and BITTER DAYS (2010).
