The movie received grants from the Doha Film Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, and the Jordan Film Fund.
The debut feature by Jordanian filmmaker Zaid Abu Hamdan, Daughters of Abdulrahman, is set for a tour of screenings in Europe, where it will premiere in the 13th edition of the Middle East Now Film Festival, which will be hosted in Florence, Italy, from October 4 to 9.
The film will be screened in the presence of the director on Friday, October 7 at 9 PM Florence time (GMT +2).
The movie will also be exhibited during the 18th edition of the Arab Film Festival in Germany, which runs from October 6 to 15.
The film is also being screened in Jordanian cinemas for the eighth week in a row, making it the first Jordanian film to screen that long in cinemas. Also, the film has been screened at Amman International Film Festival-Awal Film and was well received.
Daughters of Abdulrahman was released commercially in Saudi and Kuwaiti theatres and is set to be released shortly in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world.
Daughters of Abdulrahman recently won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film (Golden Lynx Fiction) at FEST – New Directors /New Films Festival in Portugal and Audience Award at San Diego Arab Film Festival, USA. The film landed its world premiere at the Cairo International Film Festival where it won the Audience Award (Youssef Cherif Rizkallah Award) and was screened at the Beirut International Women Film Festival, where it won a special mention and the first edition of Red Sea International Film Festival (Arab Spectacular Section). It was also the opening film of Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden.
The film follows the storyline of Zainab who wakes up to a shocking discovery that could defame her in the neighbourhood. She quickly calls for her sister’s aid. Yet, fiery Amaal has her own secret struggle and is not having her sister Samah, who is too busy to be there. Meanwhile, Khitam tries to focus on her own mission.
Written and directed by Zaid Abu Hamdan, Daughters of Abdulrahman stars Saba Mubarak, Farah Bsaiso, Hanan Al Hilo, Mariam Al Basha, and Khalid Al Tarifi. It is produced by Pan East Media (Saba Mubarak & Aya Wuhoush), Lagoonie Film Production, Wika Production and Distribution, and Arab Media Network. MAD Solutions handles the film’s distribution in the Arab world.
The film received several funds, including the Doha Film Institute development fund, the Jordan Film Fund of the Royal Film Commission development and production funds, as well as a fund from CineGouna Platform (post-production) at El Gouna Film Festival. The film was also selected among the finalist projects at the Tribeca Film Festival – All Access programme, and selected for RFC Rawi Screenwriters Lab.
Born and raised in Amman, Jordan, Zaid Abu Hamdan holds an MFA from the New York Film Academy in Hollywood California. He started his career working on international TV shows as an Assistant Director and Producer, including E! Entertainment’s coverage of the Golden Globe and Academy Awards. In addition, Abu Hamdan worked as a television reporter for the Middle East Broadcast Corporation Group (MBC Group) in Hollywood. He also worked on directing reality and scripted shows such as Sesame Street, a competition that shows and mentors the Arab Film Studio programme at Image Nation, Abu Dhabi. Since 2009, he has written and directed five award-winning and audience-acclaimed short films, including Bahiya & Mahmoud, which was the official Jordanian submission to the Academy Awards in 2012.
