Hanadi Elyan’s feature film SALMA’s HOME had a special screening at TAJ Cinema in its homeland Jordan on June 19th, in the presence of the film’s director Hanadi Elyan, crew, and protagonists including, Juliet Awad, Sameera Asir, and Rania Kurdi, also supporting role actors Waleed Jizawi and Firas Taybeh as well as a number of film critics and prominent media figures.
 
The film received wide critical acclaim regionally,  and internationally. Emilie Black described the film on the Cinema Crazed website, stating, "This is a carefully crafted drama that feels like home." While Randy Myers, in The Mercury News, praised the film saying, "A delightful debut feature from Palestinian-Jordanian filmmaker Hanadi Elyan that offers a refreshing, humorous and heartfelt take on the bonds and relationships between three generations of Arab women."  Cinccentric “Salma’s Home is director Hanadi Elyan’s debut feature film, though you wouldn’t be able to tell by watching. Her film is a story of family, grief, and solidarity set in Jordan”
 
SALMA’s HOME film is set in Jordan and revolves around three women with distinct personalities. SALMA (Juliet Awad) is a talented baker living alone in a large old house overlooking downtown Amman running a nonprofitable home-based bakery, her daughter FARAH (Sameera Asir) is a young working mother with marital problems with husband Malek (Firas Taybeh) . Their lives are disrupted by the death of Salma’s ex-husband. The funeral takes place at his current wife’s house, LAMIA (Rania Kurdi), an aspiring socialite who is obsessed with building her brand online. After the funeral, Uncle Emad (Waleed Jizawi) brings shocking facts to light leading to territorial clashes and finally forcing the three women to accept some harsh realities and take control of their lives.
 
SALMA’s HOME had its world premiere at Cinequest Film and Creativity Festival 2022 in the United States of America. Written and directed by Hanadi Elyan, the film stars Juliet Awad, Rania Kurdi along with Sameera Asir and is produced by Nathan Bennett’s Reel LA Productions. MAD Solutions handles the film’s distribution in the Arab world.
 
Driven by her love of filmmaking from a very young age, Hanadi’s work focuses on telling stories about social issues facing marginalized communities from a female perspective. She is a transnational writer and director that believes in breaking stereotypes through telling stories of the shared human experience. Born in Dubai and raised in an artistic Jordanian / Palestinian family, Hanadi spent her childhood between the UAE and Jordan. She established Reel Arab Productions in Dubai, a company that created commercials for international brands but then expanded into TV too. She moved to Los Angeles after being selected for the MSFF full ride scholarship, where she earned her MFA in Film Production / Directing from UCLA. Today, based in Boston, MA, Hanadi is putting the final touches on her feature film Salma’s Home 2022, and also is serving as Asst. Professor of Narrative Film Directing at Emerson College.
 
 She has previously won numerous funds and awards for her films, including Jordan Film Fund, Hollywood Foreign Press Association Award, Delia Salvi Memorial award, Special Jury award at Tangiers Film Festival for Mariam's Chance, George Burns and Gracie Allen Scholarship Fellowship in Comedy and The UCLA Directors Spotlight Award.