Australia’s First Muslim Rom-Com ‘Ali’s Wedding’ Finally Has A Trailer!
The film will be showing at Sydney Film Festival before its release mid-year.
Amid the excitement of the release of the full Sydney Film Festival program for 2017, Madman has released the brand-new trailer for the much-anticipated (in the Junkee office, at least) rom-com Ali’s Wedding. The film, which is based on Osamah Sami’s excellent memoir, Good Muslim Boy, and co-written by Sami and Andrew Knight, tells the story of Sami’s arranged marriage, which lasted precisely one hour and 48 minutes.
The film premiered last year at the Adelaide Film Festival to rave reviews, and it’s returning to the festival circuit for its NSW premiere at the Sydney Film Festival’s iconic State Theatre venue. Madman reports the film will get a wider Australian release later this year. In the meantime, you can enjoy the trailer, which is frankly completely adorable. Seriously, very cute. The story centres on Ali (played by Sami), whose family’s plans for his arranged marriage are thrown into disarray when he meets Dianne, a young woman who is very definitely not his fiancée.
The film has some big names attached. Not only is it produced by Aussie film-industry heavyweight Tony Ayres, it stars early Offspring heartthrob Don Hany and Ryan Corr (Cleverman, Holding the Man). The film will enter the dubious canon of Australian rom-com achievement, which includes fabulous films like Looking For Alibrandi and Alex & Eve, and less fabulous films like the cringeworthy Josh Lawson-vehicle Any Questions For Ben?
From the looks of this trailer, Ali’s Wedding belongs firmly in the former category: heart-warming, funny, romantic. Not to mention the fact that Sami is illuminating an area of Australian life — Muslim romance and marriage — that needs both a spotlight and a lighter touch.
Even as Australian film and television inches toward the kind of diversity that represents our actual lives (and faces and families and communities), we’re still seeing ads like that bizarre Bill Shorten “Australian’s first” campaign, and the almost entirely white Gold Logie nomination list for 2017. So, you know, the more diverse stories on our screens the better.
I for one am super excited about the release of this film because come on, look at it, it’s adorable! Watch the full trailer below, and start feeling those feels.