Amjad Al Rasheed's debut feature made history earlier this year when it became the first Jordanian feature film to premiere in Cannes.
Royal Film Commission-Jordan has selected Amjad Al-Rasheed Inshallah a Boy as an official submission for Best Foreign Film at the 96th Academy Awards
Following its historic world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics Week, where it received the Gan Foundation Award and the Rail d’Or Award for Best Feature Film, Inshallah a Boy has been making waves on the festival circuit, winning Best Actress and a Jury Award at the Rotterdam Arab Film Festival, as well as the Women’s Jury Award and the Grand Jury Award at the Paysages de Cinéastes.
MAD Solutions, which distributes Inshallah a Boy in the Arab world, is now celebrating its success with three films from its distribution slate, this year, being submitted by their countries for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
In addition to Inshallah a Boy, the other two films are Amr Gamal’s The Burdened and Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia.
Previously, Inshallah a Boy screened at a number of prestigious film festivals, including the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, and the Sydney Film Festival.
Inshallah a Boy, a co-production between Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is overseen by Jordan-based producer Rula Nasser for The Imaginarium Films.
The film tackles the problematic issue of women and inheritance in Jordan, an issue which is prevalent throughout the Arab world, where, due to antiquated laws, men inherit twice as much as women.
It was also awarded by El Gouna Film Festival and Festival International de Films de Fribourg, as well as supported by Oticons, which will allow it to collaborate with the composers represented by the company.
It also received production and post-production support from Jordan’s Royal Film Commission in two cycles, a monetary prize from the Arab Radio and Television Network at the fifth Cairo Film Connection, and production support from the Doha Film Institute.
Inshallah a Boy won financial support from El Gouna Film Festival worth $5000.
Directed by Amjad Al-Rasheed and co-written alongside Delphine Augte and Rula Nasser, Inshallah a Boy stars Muna Hawa, Haitham Omari, Salwa Nakkara, Yumna Marwan, Mohammad Al-Jizawi, Eslam Al-Awadi, and Cilina Rababa.
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.
Greenwich Entertainment acquired US distribution rights to the film ahead of its North American premiere at TIFF earlier this month.
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 with Darin J. Sallam.
