Amrou Al-Kadhi

a genuine honour to be photographed by one of the greats, the beyond talented and beyond lovely @erik_carter in LA 🌱🌞🥹🙏🏽 📸 #portrait #portraitphotography #portraiphotographer #portraitphotography #filmcamera #filmphotography #gayphoto #gayportrait #photooftheday #queerphotography #queerportrait #instagay #photographer #artportrait #artportrait #filmcamera #portraitonfilm #portraits #headshot #cityphotography #losangeles

🩸ORIGINAL SIN 🩸 Now online. This is my exorcism film. The proudest piece of filmmaking I’ve made — and the first where I let myself be truly nasty. A queer Arab refusal of likeability. A psychosexual, Almodovarian war between a Muslim drag queen and their mother. Come get lost in this camp nightmarish Arab Medea. Streaming on @wepresent Produced by @knucklehead_hq Casting @shaheenbaigcasting Starring @darinaaljoundi & @mojeanaria Cinematographer @chris.aoun_ Production designer @sorayagilanniviljoen Score @cj_mirra Editing @konstantin_bock Make-Up @ajmakeupman Costume Jonathan Lipman Grade @_nlsn_ Post @selectedworks.tv & @molinarepost #ShortFilm #IndependentFilm #FilmDirector #QueerCinema ArthouseCinema

Updated Director’s showreel 🎥🥰🙏🏽 - 9 years. 1 feature. 5 shorts. Queer Arab euphoria and rage 🩸 Thank you @edenraeread for the killer showreel edit!!! Featuring work made with incomparable collaborators: @savannahjbay @_paininthearm @sinforvictory @chris.aoun_ @mojeanaria @darinaaljoundi @sorayagilanniviljoen @fionabrands_ @knucklehead_hq @katztim @ameenakaracallender @_nlsn_ @marchill.aco @louisgreatorex and so many more that I cannot count! But a director is only ever as capable as their team and I am a very lucky person! 🙏🏽💫🙏🏽 #QueerCinema #ArabFilmmaker #LGBTQFilmmaker #IndieDirector #DirectorsReel

"We talked a lot about the cinematography feeling like a chess game - precise movements, nothing wasted, each cut, each frame, a strategic proposition in this mythic Greek war between mother and son." A Muslim mother and her drag queen son battle for the spotlight in @glamrou 's surreal short 'Original Sin' commissioned by @wepresent . Amrou sits down with DN to unpack how the film's tightly choreographed visual language stages their domestic trauma funhouse standoff as something altogether more operatic. Watch 'Original Sin' & read our full interview with Amrou on DN now ⏯️ // Credits // Director & Writer, Amrou Al-Kadhi @glamrou Commissioner, WePresent, @wepresent Producer, Tim Katz at Knucklehead @knucklehead_hq Executive Producer, Holly Fraser @hollymercedes27 Executive Producer, Alex Mattinson @almexsattinon Cast, Mojean Aria and Darina Al Joundi @mojeanaria @darinaaljoundi Director of Photography, Christopher Aoun @chris.aoun_ Production Designer, Soraya Gilanni Viljoen @sorayagilanniviljoen Casting, Shaheen Baig @shaheenbaigcasting Editor, Konstantin Bock @konstantin_bok Original Score, CJ Mirra @cj_mirra Costume Design, Jonathan Lipman Make-Up and Hair, AJ Juttla @ajmakeupman

You don’t escape your mother. You become her. And then she becomes you… Shot on 35mm. ORIGINAL SIN. Now online. Streaming now @wepresent 🩸 #ShortFilm #IndependentFilm #QueerCinema #ArthouseCinema #35mm

“I dress as the version of my mother who accepts me.” Drag queen @glamrou grew up between Bahrain, Dubai and Iraq. Family pressure and censorship laws kept them from being who they wanted to be. After they discovered drag, everything changed. We joined them on a shopping trip for their next drag show at @adhoclondon to learn more about their journey #dragqueen #drag #nonbinary #themomentthatmade me

ORIGINAL SIN 🩸- DELETED SCENE. Full short film coming soon with @wepresent 🫦 Though this scene didn’t make the final cut, it’s still one of my favourite things I’ve ever shot, and I wanted to share it with you in advance of releasing the film 👹 Featuring a powerhouse performance from @darinaaljoundi , cast impeccably by @shaheenbaigcasting 🎭 With extraordinary cinematography from habibi @chris.aoun_ , cinematographer of ALL THAT’S LEFT OF YOU 🎥 Breathtaking production design by @sorayagilanniviljoen 🎨 Produced to perfection by @knucklehead_hq - this scene edited beautifully by @craigheathcote 🎬 Is there anything more wonderful than expunging your subconscious through filmmaking? Such a privilege to put these stories on screen 🥹 #35mm #ShotOnFilm #QueerCinema #ArabCinema #horrorcinema

✨ NEWS: award winning Amrou Al-Kadhi (@glamrou ) confirmed as director for SUGAR DADDY! Following headline shows at Soho Theatre From Qur’an to Queen and Drag Mother, Amrou is bringing their talents to Sam Morrison’s shockingly funny and unexpectedly romantic UK premiere at @underbellyboulevard . London. This is your next hot ticket. Opens 5th March at Underbelly Boulevard Soho. Strictly limited run. Tickets on sale now. Amrou Al-Kadhi is a British-Iraqi writer and director working across theatre, film, and television. Raised between the Gulf and London, their work is informed by cross-cultural experience and focuses on character-driven storytelling with clarity, pace, and emotional intelligence. Al-Kadhi is the author of the award-winning memoir Life as a Unicorn, which received both the Polari First Book Prize and a Somerset Maugham Award. In theatre, Al-Kadhi has headlined Soho Theatre and toured internationally with solo shows including From Qur’an to Queen and Drag Mother under the performance name Glamrou. Their feature-film debut Layla premiered in competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Al-Kadhi currently has multiple film and television projects in development in the UK and the United States.

So 2025 was the worst and most transformative year of my life - my CPTSD and OCD took a grip like never before and I was unwell for the majority of ‘25. The realities of being a queer Arab in this hostile world and industry totally overwhelmed and terrified me, so much burnout, and a total crisis of confidence in myself and my work. I ended up taking 6 weeks to heal at a trauma facility in South Africa, which finally helped me find the self-love and light and to start to let go of the fiercely punishing voices that enslave my mind. OCD and cPTSD can be daily hell and they’ll be with me in some capacity forever, but I finally feel like I have tools to quieten everything that taught me to hate myself 🙏🏽 Moving into 2026 with such a renewed sense of hope, fight, motivation, gratitude and creative confidence knowing exactly what I want to say and how to say it. I also got to make a film this year that represents everything I’ve buried in my subconscious and work, with dream collaborators, and to express myself as I truly feel! I can’t wait to showcase ORIGINAL SIN to the world next year, and for everything that awaits, and to be a much more peaceful and positive person! So much love everyone 🙏🏽♥️💪🏽💫

Thoughts in @metro.co.uk today about the dehumanisation of Arabs in the media, how an increasingly risk-averse TV & Film industry has a duty to uplift Arab voices right now, and a horrifying past experience during my art GCSE when my racist art teacher told me to make my “autobiography” art project about…you guessed it…9/11! Oh to be in an Iraqi in Britain in 2004!

thanks for a healing time South Africa 🙏🏽🌸🙏🏽

So excited to share the exclusive trailer of ORIGINAL SIN 🩸, which is premiering at BFI #LFF this week (other festival screenings to be announced 😉) Eternally grateful to @wepresent for commissioning me to make this film, it’s been a dream come true really, and to my esteemed team @knucklehead_hq for producing this so slickly! And of course to my cast and all my incredible HODs and crew. A filmmaker is only as good as their team, and I have the best team and am absurdly lucky😭 When I started making films, I wanted to put my hopes and dreams onto the screen. Now I want to expunge my nightmares through the medium 😈. I’ve found filmmaking to be one of the most incredible ways to sublimate trauma into something beautiful and meaningful for audiences (and myself). This short has really allowed me to explore my deepest questions and obsessions - breaking the curses of intergenerational trauma, interrogating the “tensions” between drag femininity and womanhood, drag and Arab femininity, religious trauma, maternal revenge, the cyclical nature of trauma, the fetishisation of suffering and who gets to own their narrative. I can’t wait for you all to see it! Feeling very blessed today!!! 🧿 #shortfilm #35mmfilm #filmfestival #cinematography #kodak35mm #indiefilm #queerfilm #MENAfilm