DAUGHTERS OF ABDULRAHMAN Screens at New York University Abu Dhabi on Monday October 3rd

release date October 03 2022

The feature film DAUGHTERS OF ABDULRAHMAN, by director Zaid Abu Hamdan, continues its Arab and international screening tour, with a screening at New York University Abu Dhabi as part of the sixth season of the CinemaNa program of contemporary Arab films. The screening will take place on Monday, October 3rd at 7:30 p.m. (GMT +4) Abu Dhabi time, and will be followed by a panel discussion with director Zaid Abu Hamdan on the making of his film.

CinemaNa series for contemporary Arab films is presented by the NYUAD Film and New Media Program in New York University Abu Dhabi, featuring an in-depth discussions on films from around the Arab world. This ongoing series includes screenings of groundbreaking films as well as discussions with filmmakers and faculty professors.

This screening coincided with a successful commercial screenings in the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia, which began in early September and is planned to run until October. The film is also being screened in Jordanian cinemas for the eighth week in a row, making it the first Jordanian film to screen that long in cinemas. Also, the film has been screened at Amman International Film Festival-Awal Film and was well received, and tickets were sold out as soon as they were announced. DAUGHTERS OF ABDULRAHMAN was released commercially in Saudi and Kuwaiti theatres and is set to be released shortly in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world.

Previously, the film won the 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 in 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.

DAUGHTERS OF ABDULRAHMAN received wide acclaim during its screening tour, as Esraa Al Radaideh wrote in Alghad website saying, "Daughters of AbdulRahman, which we may say is a film that resembles us, that intensively focuses on women's concerns in terms of treatment and depth.” Ma'an website stated that the film “ presents a smart, dramatic depiction of people inspired by reality, while criticizing society's stereotyping of the image of women and attempting to break away from such stereotypes through the protagonists of his film.”

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.