‘Inshallah a Boy’ wins Audience Award at Amman International Film Festival

broad cast prome

Co-written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Amjad Al Rasheed, the film is a co-production between Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Amjad Al-Rasheed’s critically acclaimed Jordanian film, Inshallah a Boy, has won the Audience Award in the Arab Feature Narrative Films category at the Amman International Film Festival – Awal Film.

The film is set to premiere theatrically in Jordan this summer before being released in various cinemas across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the wider MENA region.

Inshallah a Boy made history last year at the Cannes Film Festival as the first Jordanian feature to participate in the Critics’ Week section, securing the Gan Foundation Award and the Rail D’Or for Best Feature Film. Since then, it has screened at over 100 film festivals and won more than 25 awards during its festival tour.

The most recent of these awards include the Best Narrative Feature Award from the Muslim International Film Festival, the Best Feature Fiction Award from the seventh Beirut International Women Film Festival, the Best First Film Award from the Bengaluru International Film Festival, the Best Performance Award from the Red Sea International Film Festival, the Best Screenplay for a Narrative Feature Award from the Mystic Film Festival, the Best Performance from the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the Golden Frog for Best Directorial Debut at the Camerimage IFF in Poland.

Inshallah a Boy narrates the story of Nawal, a recently widowed woman navigating societal challenges to save her daughter and home after her husband’s death in a society where having a son holds significant weight.

Directed by Amjad Al-Rasheed and co-written alongside Delphine Agut and Rula Nasser, the film boasts a stellar cast including Mouna Hawa, Haitham Omari, Salwa Nakkara, Yumna Marwan, Mohammad Al-Jizawi, Islam Al-Awadi, and Celina Rabab’a.

The film’s production was led by Nasser and Abu Ayyash, with co-production from Youssef Abdelnabi, Raphaël Alexandre, and Nicolas Leprêtre. Associate producers include Alaa Karkouti, Maher Diab, and Shahinaz El-Akkad. The lensing of the film was executed by Kanamé Onoyama, while editing was handled by the prolific Ahmed Hafez. Nour Halawani was responsible for sound mixing, and the score was composed by Jerry Lane. Zeina Soufan and Nasser Zoubi served as the project’s costume and production designers, respectively.

In terms of production companies, Inshallah a Boy was produced by Imaginarium Films and co-produced by Georges Films and Bayt Al-Shawareb. For distribution within the Arab world, MAD Solutions and Lagoonie Film Production have taken the helm, while Pyramide International is managing international sales and distribution in France.

Inshallah a Boy marks Amjad Al-Rasheed’s second collaboration with MAD Solutions, following the marketing of his short film The Parrot, which he co-directed.

The film is currently available for streaming on OSN.