Belgian film 'Rebel' awarded at Philadelphia Film Festival

The Belgian film 'Rebel' from the directing duo Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, has won the award for Best Narrative Feature at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

The film is about 13-year-old Moroccan boy Nassim, who is searching for his own identity after the death of his father. His mother Leila anxiously tries to keep him away from his older brother Karim, a local dealer and gangster.

'Rebel' had its US premiere in Philadelphia in the 'Sight & Soundtrack' programme. ​ The jury of the Philadelphia Film Festival's Narrative Feature competition included film journalist Jen Yamoto, actor Noah Segan ('Knives Out') and Emmy-nominated editor Vera Drew ('Who is America'). Besides 'Rebel', Cannes winner 'Close' by Lukas Dhont was also selected for the US film festival.

Rebel has been in Belgian theatres since 5 October. It's Adil & Bilall's first Flemish feature film since 'Patser' (2018). In the meantime, the directing duo was mainly active in Hollywood, where they directed 'Bad Boys for Life' (2020) with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, as well as two episodes of the TV series 'Ms. Marvel' (2022).

^{Director Bilall Fallah and director Adil El Arbi pictured during the premiere of 'Rebel' at the Kinepolis cinema in Brussels on Saturday 01 October 2022. © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}