Boutique sales company Odd Slice Films has secured worldwide distribution rights to the documentary “Concrete Land,” marking the feature directorial debut of Palestinian-Jordanian filmmaker Asmahan Bkerat. The film is set to premiere in the Semaine de la Critique section of Locarno Film Festival.
The project took eight years to complete and documents the lived experiences of one of the last Afro-Palestinian Bedouin families residing on the periphery of Amman, Jordan. The Najar family confronts displacement as residential development expands across their agricultural lands. Facing pressure to relinquish their livestock and potential eviction, family members work to maintain their cultural identity while their 10-year-old daughter, Eman, experiences discrimination in educational settings and navigates uncertainty about her future.
Bkerat stated that her commitment to filmmaking is rooted in representing her community’s narratives and preventing their erasure. She explained that the documentary emerged from witnessing the threats facing the Najar family and the environmental transformation of their region, which motivated her to document their story before further loss occurred.
The production benefited from backing by multiple international funding organizations, including the IDFA Bertha Fund, Sundance Documentary Fund, the Jordan Film Fund, Doha Film Institute, and AFAC. Bkerat and Ban Maraqa served as producers, with Jane Mote as executive producer and Sam Soko as creative producer.
Martina Droandi, founder of Odd Slice Films, described her long engagement with the project, having first encountered it in 2021 through First Cut Lab. She characterized the film as a significant examination of how urban development intersects with the histories and identities of communities facing displacement.
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