Daughters of Abdul-Rahman

Original title: Banat Abdulrahman
Genre: Drama / Comedy
Director: Zaid Abu Hamdan
Country: Jordan, USA, Qatar
Year of production: 2021
Czas: 112 min

Awards and nominations:
2022 FEST New Directors/New Films Festival: Audience Award
2021 Cairo International Film Festival: Youssef Cherif Rizkallah Audience Award
2021 Beirut International Women Film Festival: Special Jury Mention

A sudden disappearance of an old, disabled father is a pretext to tell a story of four women, his adult daughters. The sisters differ from one another in every possible aspect: age, way of life, religiousness, sensitivity, marital status, and temperament. The disappearance of the father triggers strains and frustrations which have been present in the familial relations for years. Gradually, we learn that practically each woman hides secrets from others. The crisis makes the sisters get to know one another one more time, this time in an adult, mature life, and forever abandon the ties that formed between them in their childhood. Conservative community expects them to submit to commonly accepted rules, but the sisters find their strength to defend what’s really important to them. It seems the film passes the Bechdel-Wallace test which is used as an indicator of active presence of women in cultural works. It means that a film needs to show two named women conversing with each other about something other than men. Here the women talk about their needs, dreams, disappointments, and frustrations. In this circle of women, strength and hope for the future are born.
Author: Anna Taszycka

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Zaid Abu Hamdan comes from Jordan. He’s a producer and screenwriter, as well as a film and TV director. In 2009 he founded a production company Zaha Productions.