Nasser Sharaf’s Score in THE ALLEYS is Nominated for the Best Original Score for a Narrative Feature Film

release date August 26 2022

Canadian Screen Music Awards (CASMA) announced that Composer Nasser Sharaf is nominated for the Best Original Score for a Narrative Feature Film for his work in the film THE ALLEYS, by Bassel Ghandour. Sharaf will compete in his category with four other composers. The awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday, Sep 21.

Canadian Screen Music Awards (CASMA) is a celebration held by The Screen Composers Guild of Canada and consists of 9 categories. In this year’s edition, remarkable Arab figures alongside Nasser Sharaf are nominated for their works. Such figures include Syrian Composer Layal Watfeh for her work in AMBAR 6 and THE JOURNEY as well as Jordanian Composer Suad Bushnaq for her work in the TV episode The Nature of Things: Why We Dance.

With a career spanning over 25 years, Nasser Sharaf, a Canadian composer of Jordanian descent, is best known for his ability to integrate various Western and Arab musical genres in his music composition. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Composition/ Film Scoring from Berklee College of Music in Boston. Afterwards, he earned a degree in Sound Engineering from Full Sail University. He started off his career working in various studios with top notch clients, such as Disney Corporation, Universal Studios, and Metro Goldwyn Myer to name but a few.

In 1993, Sharaf returned to Jordan where he co-founded Sharaf Music Productions. Later, in 2008, he was commissioned to compose the musical score for the musical theater production Petra Rocks in celebration of the historical city of Petra’s induction into the “New Seven Wonders of the World” and the 10th anniversary of King Abdullah II's coronation. In addition to his work in film, television, and musical theater, Nasser composed music for Television, interactive media, and Video Games.

Recently, THE ALLEYS has been making waves on the festival circuit. The film received the Audience Award and Special Mention from Malmo Arab Film Festival, Sweden. In addition, it received The Grand Prix du Jury at the Festival du Premier Film d’Annonay, France. It was nominated for 4 awards in the Critics Awards for Arab Films that is presented by Arab Cinema Center on the sidelines of Cannes Film Festival.

On a parallel note, THE ALLEYS was widely acclaimed during its screening tour in which it participated in dozens of international festivals; the most notable are BFI London Film Festival and International Film Festival Rotterdam. Also, its Arab premiere was at Red Sea International Film Festival, while its international premiere was at one of the most prestigious international festivals, Locarno Film Festival, at Piazza Grande competition, becoming the first Jordanian feature film to participate in this festival.

In a gossip-ridden, violent neighborhood in East Amman, a young hustler will stop at nothing to be with his secret lover, but her mother will not have it. When an extortionist’s camera captures a video of the couple in the act, the mother solicits a gangster to put a stop to it all, but things do not go as planned.

THE ALLEYS is written and directed by Bassel Ghandour, starring Emad Azmi, Baraka Rahmani, Munther Rayahnah, Maisa Abd Elhadi, Nadira Omran, and Nadim Remawi. Produced by Bayt Al Shawareb (Yousef Abd AlNabi), The Imaginarium Films (Rula Nasser), and Lagoonie Film Production (Shahinaz el Akkad) as co-producer. MAD Solutions manages the film’s distribution in the Arab world, while the French company Elle Driver handles sales in the rest of the world.