18th Arab Film Festival

Friday, September 27 at 7pm

ABOUT THE FILM

Aden, Yemen, 2019: Civil war has been raging for five long years. Isra’a and Ahmed are in a constant battle to provide for their five children––putting food on the table, dealing with daily power outages, and finding gasoline for their van makes life a minute-by-minute struggle. When they discover that Isra’a is pregnant, they scrape together their meager funds for an abortion. But money proves to be the least of their worries, and the state’s bureaucratic labyrinth and the country’s strict social mores drive the family to the brink. 

FILMMAKER BIO

Amr Gamal is an independent Yemeni film and theater director who lives and works in Aden. In 2003, he received the President's Award in playwriting, and in 2005, Gamal established Khaleej Aden Theatre Troupe. His play Ma'k Nazel became the first Yemeni play to be performed in Europe after much success in Yemen. His first feature film, 10 Days Before the Wedding (AFFC 2020) was the first to open commercially in Yemen in three decades. Both 10 Days Before the Wedding and his second feature, The Burdened, represented Yemen at the Academy Awards for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

PRESENTED BY MIZNA

Celebrating 25 years in 2024, Mizna is a critical platform for contemporary literature, film, art, and cultural production centering the work of Arab and Southwest Asian and North African artists. For more than twenty years, we have been creating a decolonized cultural space to reflect the expansiveness of our community and to foster exchange, examine ideas, and engage audiences in meaningful art.