Title: Ambush
Foreign Title: Kameen
Year: 2025
Country: Canada/Jordan
Language: In Arabic with English subtitles
Awards:
Director: Yassmina Karajah
In the backstreets of Amman, Jordan, the old and new collide in a celebration of youth culture. On one rooftop, working-class locals sit smoking hookah, watching as a nearby warehouse transforms into a pop-up techno club. Across the street, a group of younger partiers drink vodka and pop pills. Despite their differences, both groups grapple with the same struggles of intimacy, self-definition, and peer pressure.
Hasan, from one side of the street, tries to reconnect with a fleeting encounter who no longer returns his calls. On the other hand, Jena fights to stay sober and resist addiction. For a brief moment their eyes meet, offering a spark of hope — but then dawn arrives, and the night slips away.
Though much tension builds, little actually happens; we are left lingering in the quiet space of their lives. The film is sharply shot and edited, contrasting musical styles and balancing rapid jump cuts with long takes and close-ups. The layering of tradition and modernity, English and Arabic, results in a gentle, atmospheric portrait of the city and its youth.
