Ahead of its commercial release in 2 Arab countries on June 9, the official Facebook page of THE ALLEYS, directed by
Bassel Ghandour has posted the teaser trailer of the film.
The film is scheduled to be released in Jordan through Arab Media Network, and in Saudi Arabia through Rowad Media, a production and distribution company.
The mood of crime and mystery dominated the teaser, which included the majority of the film's heroes, as the teaser featured the usage of knives, firearms, manhunts, and romantic relationships.
Watch the trailer here:
Facebook:
https://fb.watch/dkFYT9GLT9/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CeMCk8NFPww/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
YouTube:
https://youtu.be/79UzoaSKblY
Recently, the film garnered the
Audience award and Special Mention at Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden and the
Grand Prix du Jury at the Festival du Premier Film d’Annonay. The
ALLEYS was nominated for four awards at the Critics Awards for Arab Films presented by Arab Cinema Center on the sidelines of the 75th Cannes Film Festival.
THE ALLEYS gained wide acclaim during its screenings at dozens of international festivals across Europe’s most significant cities including, the
International Film Festival Rotterdam and
BFI London Film Festival. Moreover, the film had its Arab world premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival, while it had its world premiere at
Locarno Film Festival’s
Piazza Grande competition, making it the first Jordanian feature film to be selected in the history of the prestigious festival.
It is also worth mentioning that the film received a fair share of acclaim by critics and international websites including, ‘
Screen Daily,’ ‘Backseat Mafia,’ and the well-known American magazine ‘PopMatters,’ as well as the British website ‘The Upcoming,’ and the Swiss newspaper ‘Corriere Del Ticino,’ among others, where all of them described it as “Fascinating,” “Impressive,” ”Epic,” “Exciting,” and “ Quite memorable.”
The film’s plot takes place in a gossip-ridden, violent neighborhood in East Amman, where a young hustler will stop at nothing to be with his secret lover, but her merciless mother won’t have it. When an extortionist catches the couple in the act, the mother solicits a gangster to put a stop to it all... things don’t go as planned.
The film project of
THE ALLEYS received the Works in Progress Post-Production Development Award of the Eastern Promises program at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czechia. Furthermore, it won two awards for films in post-production at the Cairo Film Connection, the co-financing platform of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) and received support from The Jordan Film Fund of the Royal Film Commission, Doha Film Institute (Qatar), and the Red Sea Film Festival (KSA). During the development phase, the film was aided by EAVE Producers Workshop, Rawi Screenwriters lab, Dubai Film Connection, and The Sorfond Pitching Forum, which is organized by The Norwegian South Film Fund.
THE ALLEYS is written and directed by Bassel Ghandour and stars Emad Azmi, Baraka Rahmani, Munther Rayahneh, Maisa Abd Elhadi, Nadira Omran, and Nadim Rimawi. The film is produced by Bayt Al Shawareb (Yousef Abed Al-Nabi), The Imaginarium Films (Rula Nasser), and co-produced by Lagoonie Film Production (Shahinaz El Akkad). MAD Solutions handles the film’s distribution across the Arab World, while Elle Driver (France) handles the international sales.
Director Bassel Ghandour co-wrote and produced Theeb, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at both the Academy Awards and the BAFTAs. It also won the BAFTA award for Outstanding British Debut in 2016. The ALLEYS is his directorial debut, as well as his first screenplay.
