release date November 28 2022
Bassel Ghandour’s THE ALLEYS screens at Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival
THE ALLEYS, directed by Bassel Ghandour, will be screened at the 6th edition of Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival, Beirut which is held between 13th – 17th December. The director will attend the screening that will take place on December 16th at 8 PM (Beirut Time), which will be followed by a discussion with the audience.
Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival is the only festival in the region focusing exclusively on this genre bringing the best horror, thriller, fantasy and action films from around the globe to Beirut and the Arab World. The festival seeks to stimulate the growth of Arab horror films as a genre and consider their growing social and political significance.
The film will be released in UAE theaters as of October 6. It will be screened at VOX cinemas in Mall of Emirates and Reel cinema, Roxy and Novo Cinemas, as part of the film's tour around the Arab world. The film has recently begun a commercial tour in its home country of Jordan, following its screening in 21 theaters in Saudi Arabia, and is expected to be released in other Arab countries soon.
The film just received the Audience Award and Special Mention at Sweden's Malmo Arab Film Festival, as well as the Grand Prix du Jury at the Annonay Film Festival. THE ALLEYS was nominated for four Critics Awards for Arab Films, which were presented by Arab Cinema Center on the sidelines of the 75th Cannes Film Festival.
THE ALLEYS received positive critic reviews, in which the critic Mohammed Roda wrote through his Facebook page “The film soon appears to have a remedial authenticity and the ability to recount the various events in a smooth and realistic format so that they emerge as a separate work.” This ambitious debut feature from Bassel Ghandour has confidence and style...It’s largely due to the strength of the cast that none of these characters fade into the background; each has autonomy and presence in their own story,” praised the critic Nikki Baughan through Screendaily website. “Spellbinding crime drama similar to Scorsese gangster film. Beautifully shot, and impressively acted” described by Backseat Mafia website.
THE ALLEYS joined dozens of international film festivals across Europe, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the BFI London Film Festival, as well as Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, Arab Film Festival Tübingen in Germany, Festival du film franco-arabe in Paris, and Raindance Film Festival in London.
The film also had its Arab premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival, and its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival's Piazza Grande competition, when it became the festival's first Jordanian feature film to be selected.
The story is set in East Amman's gossip-ridden, hazardous neighborhood, where a young hustler will go to any length to be with his hidden sweetheart, but her merciless mother will not allow it. When an extortionist catches the couple in the act, the mother seeks the assistance of a gangster to put an end to it all... but 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 International 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 and landed its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival.
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