The film is based on true events that took place in Aden around 2019.
Amr Gamal’s Yemeni drama The Burdened has received the MIT-SFT Human Spirit Award at the 22nd Pune International Film Festival, which ran from January 18 to 25, 2024
The film, which was Yemen’s official submission for Best Foreign Film at the 96th Academy Awards, is based on true events that took place in Aden around 2019. It follows the struggles of a married couple and their three children after both husband and wife lose their jobs as a result of the country’s economic crisis.
The Burdened is being represented in global markets by Films Boutique. The film is produced by Mohsen Alkhalifi and Amr Gamal at Adenium Productions, with co-production support from Amjad Abu Alala, Mohammed Alomda at Station Films, and the Red Sea International Film Festival.
The film is directed by Amr Gamal, who shares screenwriting credits with Mazen Refaat, and stars Khaled Hamdan, Abeer Mohammed, Samah Alamrani, and Awsam Abdulrahman.
The Burdened has already amassed a collection of prestigious accolades on its journey, including the Amnesty International Award and the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival, among others.
It also brings together Yemen, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia in a landmark co-production that was first brought to international attention at the 2022 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it earned the Works in Progress Post-Production Development Award in the festival’s industry sidebar, Eastern Promises.
MAD Solutions is managing the film’s distribution in the Arab world, while Films Boutique is managing its international sales.
Amr Gamal is an independent Yemeni film and theatre director. In 2003, he received the President’s Award for Playwriting, and in 2005, he established the Khaleej Aden Theater Troupe and has written and directed all of its theatre productions since.