Saudi Arabia... "Red Sea International" rejects a Yemeni film showing the results of the war on the south

Alyoum8th newspaper learned from Yemeni sources that the organizers of the Red Sea International Festival, which is held annually in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, rejected the Yemeni film "The Exhausted" directed by "Amr Gamal", claiming that it reviews the results of the war in the capital Aden and other southern cities, in an implicit reference to the film leveling veiled accusations against Riyadh, which led an Arab military coalition of ten countries to prevent the expansion of the Houthis towards the Bab al-Mandab, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea strip.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a military operation with the participation of ten countries, most notably the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain, after the Iranian proxies in Sana'a tried to control Aden (the capital) and other southern cities, and the military coalition in alliance with the southern resistance succeeded in expelling the Houthis from all cities of the south, but the effects of the war cast a shadow on the security and military situation, after the Brotherhood intervened militarily again in order to control the south, and compensate for what the group lost in the governorates North Yemen, which has contributed to the prolongation of conflict and crises in all aspects of life.

Yemeni sources close to the director of the film told Alyoum8th newspaper that the director, "Amr Gamal", submitted to the Red Sea Festival, a request to display the film "The Exhausted", which was produced with Western funding, but the conditions of the festival did not apply to it, which led to the rejection of the film completely, while giving way to the possibility that director Amr Gamal will participate in the festival to be held during the period from November 30 to December 9.

In the film "The Exhausted", which is produced by Mohsen Al-Khulaifi, director Amr Gamal presents a true story that took place in the capital Aden in 2019 about a middle-class family consisting of a father, mother and 3 children, and the family suffers after the war that took place in 2015, and the parents lose their jobs and live below the poverty line, and the mother is surprised that she is pregnant and expecting a new baby before deciding with her husband to get rid of the fetus.

In press statements, director Amr Gamal said that the abortion intended in the film symbolizes the future and dreams, which is the case of the country, which is still living under painful economic and political conditions that aborted dreams, ambitions and the future and forced people to make difficult sacrifices.

He said that his films "10 Days Before Al-Zaffa" and "The Exhausted" succeeded in putting Yemeni cinema on the map of Arab and international cinema, and he hopes that this will be an incentive for directors, producers and filmmakers from various governorates to restore the artistic and theatrical glow of the country after years of decline and contraction.

Jamal began filming his film "The Exhausted" in October 2021, in the "Al- Qatia " neighborhood, one of the oldest popular neighborhoods in Aden.

During its production stages, funded by Germany, the film won many awards, as the Yemeni film "The Exhausted" won two awards from the 38th Valencia International Festival, where it won the Best Director Award for Amr Gamal and Best Screenplay for Amr Gamal and Mazen Refaat.

The awards join the group of honors the film has received, after winning the Jury Prize of the Taipei Film Festival in Taiwan a few days ago.

The film participated in a number of international film festivals, as it premiered at the Berlin Film Festival last February, thus becoming the first Yemeni film to participate in the Berlin Festival, and the film also won the Amnesty International Film Award, which is awarded to the most influential film in the human aspect among all sections of the festival, and also received the second highest percentage of votes in the audience award, after more than 22,000 people voted for this award.

The film has travelled the world with participation in many festivals such as Sydney, Taiwan, Shanghai, Beijing, Armenia, Slovakia, and most recently the Taipei Festival in Taiwan and Valencia.

The film project has also received attention from several festivals that have contributed to its support and development, including winning the market of the Karlovy Vary In-Production Film Festival in the Czech Republic, and two awards for completing the post-production stages of the Malmö Arab Film Festival in Sweden.

Commenting on the question of the film obtaining Saudi funding for its production, Amr Gamal said, "If we decide to hold accountable all parties related to the Yemen war, we will find ourselves far from all festivals and all funding funds, half the world and more have to do with the war in Yemen, and since I was present today in this festival and in Europe, which sells weapons to the fighters, we are artists and we try to deal with artists, art festivals and funds that support art, and it is good that Saudi Arabia provides support for cinema, my standard is not to interfere in The script or the process of the film, to accept funding."