Bassel’s debut as director, THE ALLEYS, had its world premiere AT THE 2021 Locarno Film Festival in Piazza Grande, giving it the distinction of being the first Arab film to be screened in the biggest outdoor cinema in Europe in more than a decade. THEEB, Bassel’s debut feature as a writer and producer reached all the way to the Academy Awards, where it became Jordan’s first even nominee for Best Foreign-Language Oscar before storming the international marketplace (where it was released in a record 12 Arab countries through MAD Solutions. MAD is also distributing THE ALLEYS across the Arab world, with sales to the rest of world handled by Elle Driver.