The film is directed by Amr Gamal, who shares screenwriting credits with Mazen Refaat.
Amr Gamal’s Yemeni film The Burdened (Al Murhaqoon) won the Best Screenplay award at the Durban International Film Festival 2023, which return to Suncoast CineCentre after a three-year hiatus due to the national lockdown.
Presented by the University of KwaZulu Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, the festival showcased 90 films from 54 countries from July 20 to 30, 2023.
Previously, The Burdened won the Amnesty International Film Award — which comes with a cash prize of €5,000 — during the Independent Juries Award Ceremony that was held as part of the activities of the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale).
The Burdened — which was the first Yemeni film to play in the official selection of the Berlinale — is based on a true story set in Aden, Yemen. The film follows Ahmed, Isra’a, and their three children after they both lose their jobs as a result of an economic crisis.
After the mother discovers she is carrying a fourth child, the beleaguered parents try to get an abortion despite their community’s conservative stance, forcing the family to make tough decisions to survive.
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.
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.
The Burdened is co-produced by Mohsen Alkhalifi, Mohammed Alomda, and Amjad Abu Alala.
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.
