MAD Options Takes Yemeni Abortion Drama ‘The Burdened’

Outstanding movie distributor MAD Options has taken pan-Arab rights to abortion-themed Yemeni drama “The Burdened” (“Al Murhaqoon”), which is amongst works-in-progress offered at Saudi Arabia’s Crimson Sea Souk undertaking market.

Produced and directed by Amr Gamal, “The Burdened” scooped an award amongst works-in-progress on the business part of the Karlovy Range Intl. Movie Pageant in July. 

The story, written by Gamal and Mazen Refaat, facilities on Ahmed, Isra’a and their three youngsters in Aden, Yemen, in 2019. It’s primarily based on true occasions skilled by the director with one in every of his shut buddies. As a result of nation’s financial disaster each dad and mom lose their jobs. The drama begins with Isra’a discovering out about her fourth being pregnant at a time once they can’t cowl the bills of a brand new youngster, main them to make tough selections, amid their neighborhood’s conservative stance, with a view to survive.

“Burdened” will likely be Gamal’s sophomore characteristic following his 2018 debut “10 Days Earlier than the Marriage ceremony,” a dramedy about obstacles brought on by the 2015 conflict in Yemen that stand in the way in which of a younger couple getting married. This was Yemen’s first regionally produced movie in years and have become successful with native audiences.

The undertaking, now in submit, brings collectively Yemen, Sudan and Saudi Arabia in a landmark co-production. “The Burdened” stars Khaled Hamdan, Abeer Mohammed, Samah Alamrani and Awsam Abdulrahman.

“I used to be lucky to have the ability to work on the movie with a various vary of nationalities along with the Yemeni crew,” Gamal stated in a press release. “I had the privilege of collaborating with actors and producers from Sudan, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, the Czech Republic, the U.Ok. and Taiwan,” the director added, noting that the pic “Is a modest dream of younger folks from Aden that culminated in a movie shared by filmmakers from everywhere in the world, and the dream remains to be ongoing.”

This cosmopolitan mix of abilities concerned was a part of the attraction for MAD Options. “We’re so delighted to have acquired the distribution rights to this ground-breaking and heart-rending story,” stated the corporate’s co-founders Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab. “It’s completely attuned to the corporate’s philosophy of aggressively in search of out filmmakers with vital inventive potential and initiatives that hyperlink numerous cultures,” they added.

“The Burdened” is co-produced by Mohsen Alkhalifi, Mohammed Alomda and Amjad Abu Alala, the Sudanese filmmaker who helmed multi-award-winning drama “You Will Die at Twenty,” which in 2020 was Sudan’s first-ever Oscars submission.

Headquartered in Cairo, and with places of work within the UAE, Portugal and New York, MAD Options is a number one international distributor of Arab-language movies and in addition runs one of many prime promotional businesses and administration firms for Arab inventive expertise. 

Since 2021 they’ve distributed greater than 100 movie titles, two-thirds of them options, throughout the Arab-speaking world and in worldwide markets.