Inshallah a Boy

This is a film about women's lack of rights when their husband dies. According to Jordan's inheritance law, the husband's family has as much claim to the assets as the widow – including their shared home. Unless they have a son.

In Inshallah a Boy, we enter an apartment in Amman where Nawal lives with her husband and daughter. Life takes a sudden turn when her husband dies, and Nawal becomes a widow overnight. His death forces her to mobilize everything she has to keep her home, and she lies about being pregnant in her fight against her brother-in-law, who threatens to take away her home, daughter, and pride.

In a society where Nawal and her daughter are nothing without a man, and where patriarchal structures are evident in everything from comments on the bus to court hearings, Nawal's hope is kept alive by the possibility that a baby boy can secure their home – a hope with an unmistakable expiration date.

Inshallah a Boy premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.

«Inshallah a Boy makes the ordinary into compelling drama.»
– Aparita Bhandari, Paste Magazine –

Gunhild Sølvberg (Archive 2024)

Director

Jordanian Amjad Al Rasheed is from Amman, the city where Inshallah a Boy takes place. The director and writer has an MFA in Cinematic Arts and was selected as one of five «Arab Stars of Tomorrow» in 2016. He has contributed to several short films. Inshallah a Boy is Rasheed’s feature debut. The film has been screened at over 20 film festivals and has received several awards.

This film is part of