Prior to its screening in the Arab Film Festival, Hanadi Elyan’s SALMA’S HOME claims another award

release date November 14 2022

Hanadi Elyan’s SALMA’S HOME won the Narrative Feature Audience Award at the 29th Austin Film Festival that was held in the US from October 17th to November 3rd.

Next up on the schedule, SALMA’S HOME is expected to feature at the Arab Film Festival in San Francisco on Saturday, November 19th at 2:45 pm (GMT-7) at the Roxie Theater.

Previously, the movie received the Best Feature Film Award at the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival in San Jose, which declared it “powerful, impressive, and affectionate.” It was also screened at the Arab Film Festival that was held at the Arab American Museum in Michigan.

After Bakri dies, his ex-wife, daughter, and new wife are made aware of his will, finding out that the only way to claim their inheritance is to live together under one roof.

SALMA’S HOME was released on Netflix last July and ranked second in Jordan’s top 10 watched films for three successive weeks.

The film received critical acclaim in the Arab world and internationally, with Movie Maker’s Tim Molloy describing the film as a “captivating and sharply-honed character study about two very different widows.”

Written and directed by Hanadi Elyan, the film stars Juliet Awad, Sameera Asir, Rania Kurdi, and Firas Taybeh, and was produced by Reel LA Productions (Nathan Bennett).

Nathan Bennett is a film and TV producer. Initially, he started Reel Arab Productions and began working on projects for the Middle East’s largest broadcaster MBC in Dubai, with the company eventually working on over 150 TV episodes for MBC and providing services to international customers such as Nivea and Oracle. However, Nathan eventually moved to Los Angeles and rebranded his company to Reel LA Productions and has been focusing on narrative film production.

Elyan is a Palestinian-Jordanian filmmaker whose work focuses on the social issues facing marginalized communities from a female perspective. Hanadi's short films have competed in film festivals around the world.

The director started her film career in Jordan, before moving to Dubai and helping establish Reel Arab Productions. Later, she moved to Los Angeles after being selected for a full-ride scholarship at UCLA, where she earned her MFA in Film Production and Directing.

Elyan currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Narrative Film Directing at Emerson College.

She previously won numerous funds and awards for her films, including the Jordan Film Fund, Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award, the Delia Salvi Memorial Award, the Special Jury Award at the Tangiers Film Festival for Mariam's Chance, George Burns and Gracie Allen Scholarship Fellowship in Comedy, and the UCLA Directors Spotlight Award.