2023 Cannes Clip: Losing Half the Pie and a Lot More in Amjad Al Rasheed’s Inshallah a Boy

Part of a large wave of Arab cinema covering all sections of this year’s Cannes Film Festival we find the first-ever Jordanian feature. Set to compete in the Critics’ Week section we find Amjad Al Rasheed‘s Inshallah a Boy – a tale featuring a young mother and new widow named Nawal (Mouna Hawa), who must fight for her part of the inheritance in order to save her daughter and home in a society where having a son would be a game changer. In the featured clip below we find a tricky conversation about what is ethical is the face of a brother-in-law who wants his shared of what he feels is righteously his – the law is there to back his non-negotiable stance. Produced by The Imaginarium Films’ Rula Nasser (Holy Spider), Inshallah a Boy has been picking up a lot of steam in development at the Torino Film Lab (at the Red Sea Intl. Film Festival) and the Final Cut in Venice. The world premiere day is set for this Thursday – May 18th.

After the sudden death of her husband, Nawal is struggling to cope with the upheaval in her life. However, her pain is soon compounded by the possibility of losing her home to her brother-in-law. Desperate to keep her home and provide a stable life for her daughter, Nawal resorts to deception by faking a pregnancy. But as time passes, the lie becomes harder to sustain and Nawal faces a difficult choice. With only three weeks to find a solution, Nawal embarks on a journey that challenges her fears, beliefs, and morality, as she fights to secure her rightful inheritance and protect her daughter’s future.