release date September 09 2022
DAUGHTERS OF ABDUL-RAHMAN Premieres at Mall of Emirates in presence of the crew and media figures
The feature film DAUGHTERS OF ABDUL-RAHMAN, by director Zaid Abu Hamdan had its premiere on Wednesday, September 7 at Mall of Emirates, ahead of its release in UAE cinemas as of Thursday September 8. The film’s screening was attended by the director Zaid Abu Hamdan, co-producer Aya Wuhoush, the actress Hanan Hillo, and the music composer Masis Mardirossian as well as the rest of the crew. Also, the screening was attended by prominent actors, media professionals and representatives from the embassies of Jordan, France and USA.
DAUGHTERS OF ABDUL-RAHMAN will be screened at VOX cinema in Mall of Emirates, Reel cinema in Dubai Mall, Roxy (City Walk, Dubai Hills, and Al Khawaneej). The film began its screenings in Tunisia on Wednesday, September 7, at CineMadarat Carthage, ABC Tunis, Amilcar Tunis, and Metropole Menzel Bourguiba.
The film has been screened at Amman International Film Festival-Awal Film and was well received, with tickets running out as soon as they were announced. The film was then screened in Jordanian cinemas as the third commercial stop.
Additionally, it reaped Audience Award for Best Feature Film (Golden Lynx Fiction) at FEST – New Directors /New Films Festival in Portugal and won the Audience Award at San Diego Arab Film Festival, USA. It world premiered at Cairo International Film Festival where it won the Audience Award and screened at Beirut International Women Film Festival and the first edition of Red Sea International Film Festival ( Arab Spectacular Section). Also, it opened the Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden.
On a parallel note, DAUGHTERS OF ABDULRAHMAN received wide acclaim from critics regionally and internationally. “The film's plot is around family life, customs, and traditions, with a focus on the upbringing of females in Arab communities," said The Arab Weekly. While Ola El Shafie - ElWatan said "The film adopts a Sarcastic humour sense in the construction of its situations, which is rare in Arab Cinema; to find all these laughs come from an audience of a non-Egyptian film in theaters.”
The film follows the storyline of Zainab who wakes up to a shocking discovery that could defame her in the neighborhood. She quickly calls for her sister’s aid. Yet, fiery Amaal has her own secret struggle and is not having her sister Samah, who is too busy to be there. Meanwhile, Khitam tries to focus on her own mission.
Written and directed by Zaid Abu Hamdan, DAUGHTERS OF ABDULRAHMAN stars Saba Mubarak, Farah Bsaiso, Hanan Al Hilo, Mariam Al Basha, and Khalid Al Tarifi. It is produced by Pan East Media (Saba Mubarak & Aya Wuhoush), Lagoonie Film Production, Wika Production and Distribution, and Arab Media Network. MAD Solutions handles the film’s distribution in the Arab world.
The film received several funds, including Doha Film Institute development fund, the Jordan Film Fund of the Royal Film Commission development and production funds, as well as a fund from CineGouna Platform (post-production) at El Gouna Film Festival. The film was also selected among the finalist projects at the Tribeca Film Festival - All Access program, and selected for RFC Rawi Screenwriters Lab.
Pan East Media is a Jordanian production house, established in 2011 by Saba Mubarak and Aya Wuhoush with a main objective to create authentic audio-visual content in Jordan and to present first-rate artistic work on both regional and international levels. In 2015, Saba moved the company's headquarters to the UAE and expanded the company's services to include cultural events management, talent management and entertainment production.
Moreover, the company aims to enrich the quality of the content delivered, and throughout the years it has created and developed several scenarios for both cinema and television.
Born and raised in Amman, Jordan, Zaid Abu Hamdan holds an MFA from the New York Film Academy in Hollywood California. Zaid started his career working on international TV shows as an Assistant Director and Producer, including E! Entertainment’s coverage of the Golden Globe and Academy Awards. In addition, Zaid worked as a television reporter for Middle East Broadcast Corporation group (MBC Group) in Hollywood. He also worked on directing reality and scripted shows such as Sesame Street, a competition that shows and mentors the Arab Film Studio program at Image Nation, Abu Dhabi. Since 2009, Zaid has written and directed five award-winning and audience-acclaimed short films, including Bahiya & Mahmoud, which was the official Jordanian submission to the Academy Awards in 2012.
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