The Alleys Wins Grand Prix du Jury at Festival du Premier Film d’Annonay in France

release date February 16 2022

Written and directed by Bassel Ghandour, Jordanian film The Alleys won the Grand Prix du Jury at the 39th Festival du Premier Film d’Annonay that concluded its events last Sunday, where it made its debut in France. This is considered to be a continuation of the film's fascinating global tour in 2022, which began mid 2021 .

The Alleys gained wide audience acclaim during its screenings at 10+ international festivals across Europe’s most significant cities. The last of which is the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Harbour Section), one of the world’s oldest film festivals to date. The film marked the first Jordanian feature to be selected in the festival’s history. Back in December, the film also landed its Arab world premiere at Red Sea International Film Festival.

It is also worth mentioning that the film received a fair share of acclaim, where it was described as “Fascinating”, “Impressive”, ”Epic” “Exciting” and “ Quite memorable”, by international critics and websites, including Screen Daily, Backseat Mafia, as well as the well-known American magazine PopMatters, the British website The Upcoming, the Swiss newspaper Corriere Del Ticino, among others.

The Alleys landed its world premiere at Locarno Festival’s iconic Piazza Grande, the biggest outdoor screen in Europe, marking the first Jordanian feature film to join the festival and the first Arab film to participate in the Piazza Grande section since 2008.

The Alleys had sold-out tickets via the festival’s ticket-booking link at BFI London Film Festival where it competed for Sutherland Award, dedicated for the most creative feature directorial debut. This is the first presence for Jordan at the festival in the past 7 years; since Theeb (2014), winner of BAFTA award for Outstanding Debut and the 2016 Oscar nominee.

In a gossip-ridden, violent neighborhood in East Amman, a young hustler will stop at nothing to be with his secret lover, but her merciless mother won’t have it. When an extortionist catches the couple in the act, the mother solicits a gangster to put a stop to it all... things don’t go as planned.

Previously, the film received the Works in Progress Post-Production Development Award of the Eastern Promises program at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czechia. Furthermore, it won two awards for films in post-production at the 7th Cairo Film Connection, the co-financing platform of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) and received support from The Jordan Film Fund of the Royal Film Commission, Doha Film Institute (Qatar), and the Red Sea Film Festival (KSA). During development, the film was aided by EAVE Producers Workshop, Rawi Screenwriters lab, Dubai Film Connection, and The Sorfond Pitching Forum, which is organized by The Norwegian South Film Fund.

The Alleys is written and directed by Bassel Ghandour and stars Emad Azmi, Baraka Rahmani, Munther Rayahneh, Maisa Abd Elhadi,, Nadira Omran, and Nadim Rimawi. The film is produced by Bayt Al Shawareb (Yousef Abed Al-Nabi), The Imaginarium Films (Rula Nasser) and co-produced by Lagoonie Film Production (Shahinaz El Akkad). MAD Solutions handles the film’s sales and distribution across the Arab World, while Elle Driver (France) handles the international sales.

Director Bassel Ghandour co-wrote and produced Theeb, winner of the BAFTA award for Outstanding British Debut, in 2016, and the nominee for Best Foreign Language Film at both the Academy Awards and the BAFTAs. The Alleys is his directorial debut, and he is also the film’s writer. The Alleys world premiered at the Locarno Festival.