Jamal Hamdan

The film plunges the viewer into 2053, in Alephia, a fictional Arab country, “Dystopian and imaginary”, whose name is taken from Aleph, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet and “ia” (or “ya”), the last letter of this alphabet. Three characters will unite their efforts to free his people from the yoke of the regime “The most authoritarian and the most developed in history”, described L’Orient-Le Jour.

When widower Ramzi — a man in his sixties — announces he's marrying Nisrine, a woman young enough to be his daughter, his son Jad and Jad's girlfriend Sila are furious. What follows is a battle of wills as the family schemes to drive Nisrine away, while she fights to hold her ground. A Lebanese Ramadan drama praised for its cinematic quality, realistic characters and escalating tension — viewers found themselves genuinely divided over who to root for. Stars Rita Hayek and Carlos Azar.