Al Baraneya

Pregnant Amal lives together with her extended family in Al Baraneya, a jasmine-farming village outside of Cairo. Their chaotic yet loving home life is upended when a developer offers to buy their land, sowing doubt and disagreement between family members. When a visit from Amal’s cousin from Cairo enchants her with a glimpse into a more modern, metropolitan lifestyle, she begins to question the rural life she’s always known, dreaming of freedom and opportunity in the city for herself and her children. While the sale of the land offers the possibility for change, Amal and her family must reckon with their faith in their life in the village.

Ashgan El-Hamus’s feature debut renders the tensions between city and village life, between tradition and modernity, with tender naturalism. Amid the noise and laughter of a home brimming with generations of family, the daily joys and tragedies come into sharp focus in a village whose identity is on the brink of transformation.