What is being called a “claustrophobic nightmare that plays out like a thriller” (Loud and Clear reviews), Inshallah A Boy was just selected as Jordan’s official submission for Best Foreign Film at the 96th Academy Awards by the Royal Film Commission-Jordan. Having already taken home two awards at this year’s Cannes Festival, this marks a giant step for the global recognition of Arabic filmmaking.
Boasting an impressive 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, 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 means everything.
Adding to the list of celebratory reviews, Stephanie Archer of Film Inquiry commended the film’s “gorgeous cinematography and profound performance,” calling it an “instant hidden gem of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.”
MAD Solutions, the film’s distributor in the Arab world, is celebrating its continued success by submitting two additional films in the international feature category at the upcoming Academy Awards, those being Amr Gamal’s The Burdened and Mohamad Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia. Jordanian director, Al-Rasheed, was selected in 2016 by Screen International as one of five Arab Stars of Tomorrow.
Martin Scorsese recently lamented that movie theatres have been colonised by ‘visual theme park rides’ (I vehemently agree), but considering the storytelling talent that’s emerging out from the Middle East, perhaps the future isn’t so bleak for us cinephiles after all.
