THE MULBERRY HOUSE a documentary film by Sara Ishaq

2013 | / Egypt / UK / USA / Yemen | 65’ | HD | Color | Arabic & English | Eng Sub

SYNOPSIS

Sara grew up in Yemen to a Yemeni father and a Scottish mother. As a teenager, she became increasingly suffocated by the constraints of her surroundings, and at age 17, finally decided to move to Scotland, where her mother now resides. Her father, however, would only approve under the condition that she would not forsake her Yemeni roots - a promise she made, but could not keep.

Ten years later - 2011 - Sara returns to Yemen as a different person, geared up to face the home of her past and reconnect with her long-severed roots. But against all personal expectations, she returns to find her family and country teetering on the brink of a revolution.

Available Formats: Digi Beta PAL, HD, DCP Available Territories: The World

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

2013 Nov: WORLD PREMIER -Panorama @ IDFA (Int’l Doc FF of Amsterdam). 2013 Dec: MIDDLE EAST PREMIER Muher Arab Doc Competition @ Dubai Int’l Film Festival CREDITS

Script & Direction: Sara Ishaq Produced by: for PROACTION FILM Co-produced by: Mostafa Youssef for SEEN FILMS Sara Ishaq for SETARA FILMS ENJAAZ - a Dubai Film Market Initiative Camera: Genevieve Bicknell & Sara Ishaq Sound: Sara Ishaq Editing: Doaa Fadel & Sara Ishaq Film Consultant: Emma Davie Consultant Editor: Anders Villadsen Sound Mix : Bjorn Video - FreeZone Music: Ahmed Al-Shaiba

Supported by: AFAC The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Crossroads Program The IDFA Bertha Fund JustFilms Fund by the Ford Foundation ENJAAZ - a Dubai Film Market Initiative

Mobility grant from Culture Resource, Mawa3eed Program Mobility grant from Safarfund

Developed at: IDFA Worldview Summer School Interdocs Scotland - Scottish Documentry Institute Storydoc

Pitched at: Edinburgh Pitch DOK Leipzig Coproduction Market IDFA Forum BIOs

SARA ISHAQ (Filmmaker)

SARA ISHAQ is an award-winning Yemeni-Scottish documentary filmmaker.

SARA holds an MFA in film directing at the Edinburgh College of Art. She spent some time in the past few years volunteering in the occupied Palestinian territories and radio-reporting from Yemen, while documenting her experiences through video blogs.

She has been involved in several BBC productions set in the Middle East.

In 2012, SARA released her first short documentary film about the Yemeni revolution, Karama Has No Walls, which was nominated for a BAFTA New Talent Award, screened internationally winning several awards including Aljazeera Film Festival Award for Short Doc. Karama Has No Walls is among the 8 short docs of the semi-finales nominations for OSCARS.

SARA's most recent doc The Mulberry House shot in Yemen during the revolution in 2011 and later in 2012 is an official selection of IDFA 2013 and is competing at Dubai International Film Festival 2013.

DIANA EL JEIROUDI (Producer)

Diana El Jeiroudi (born 1977, ) is a filmmaker and producer of documentary films. In 2002, Diana co-founded PROACTION FILM, to become later the only independent film production and distribution outfit in Syria. Through PROACTION FILM, she co-produced a handful of independent documentaries. Diana El Jeiroudi is the main producer of (The Mulberry House) by Sara Ishaq (WP IDFA 2013), and associated producer of (Return to ) by Talal Derki (Opening Film IDFA 2013).

As a documentary filmmaker, her debut film, The Pot, premiered at the Yamagata IDFF 2005. It was followed by the feature-length documentary Dolls: A Woman from Damascus, which was pitched at the IDFA Forum in 2006, and premiered at the Silver Wolf competition at the 24th IDFA in 2007. To date, the film played at more than 20 international festivals, including Visions du Réel and Montpellier IFF, and later nominated for CMCA award in 2009; it has also been broadcast on several European TV channels and in Asia.

Diana is also the co-founder of the DOX BOX International Documentary Film Festival of Syria, where she heads the Professional Activities. In 2012, European Doc Network decided to modify its award criteria to recognize DOX BOX’s efforts to overcome the extraordinary circumstances facing the Syrian film community. Diana El Jeiroudi and fellow co-founder received the EDN Award and the Katrin Cartlidge award at the 10th Sarajevo Film Festival.

MOSTAFA YOUSSEF (Co-Producer) Mostafa Youssef’s recent short film, Blue Dive, was officially selected for International Film Festival Rotterdam and Doha Tribeca Film Festival. His earlier short films won numerous local awards, including Jury Prize at “Rencontre De L’Image,” and internationally selected for NextReel, Mediterraneo, Hannover, among others. He directed and produced documentaries for NGOs including Care, ACT, and for broadcasters such as Al Jazeera. In recent years, Mostafa helped found thawramedia.com, a platform to empower citizen media, he is a member of the Mosireen Collective, and has founded Seen Films.