2005 | UK, Yemen | NR | 83 min.
Young photographer Tariq is arranged to be married to an aristocratic woman he’s never seen before, but complications arise when he unexpectedly falls in love with a poor orphan girl he mistakes for his bride-to-be. An achingly romantic Arabic fable, “A New Day in Old Sana’a” is the first feature film to come out of Yemen, made at some risk by British-Yemeni filmmaker Bader Ben Hirsi (“9/11–Through Saudi Eyes”). Yemen’s conservative Ministry of Culture approved the script and even contributed $40,000 to the production, but then banned the finished product from being shown in the country. Shot entirely on location among the cobblestone streets and stone towers of the ancient city of Sana’a, this classic tale of the conflict between love and duty transports us to a world at once foreign and familiar.
SPONSORED BY
Christine Struminski (Fri)