1 month ago
EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based Paradise City Sale has acquired world income authorities to Sara Ishaq’s debut characteristic The Station up of its world premiere successful Cannes Critics’ Week successful May.
The movie was among 7 features announced for Cannes Critics’ Week’s title connected Monday, pinch nan parallel conception owed to showcase 11 features successful full successful its 65 th version moving from May 13 to 21.
The uncommon Yemen set-drama, revolves information Layal who runs a women-only petrol station, which is simply a uncommon safe haven for its female clients successful a war-torn country. There, nan rules are simple: nary men, nary weapons, nary politics. When Layal’s younger relative faces enlistment, she reunites pinch her estranged sister to prevention nan 1 life they still can.
Ishaq first gained world nickname pinch her Oscar and BAFTA-nominated short documentary Karama Has No Walls (2012). Her individual documentary, The Mulberry House, premiered astatine IDFA and screened astatine festivals worldwide.
Co-written by Ishaq and Nadia Eliewat, The Station has undergone a lengthy and high-profile improvement and accumulation journey, pinch nan task winning nan main grant for champion movie successful post-production astatine nan Final Cut successful Venice programme successful 2025.
The screenplay draws inspiration from existent events witnessed by Ishaq successful Sanaa, her hometown, wherever she discovered a women-only petrol station, a unsocial abstraction bringing together women from divers backgrounds and regions, each agreed by a shared purpose: sustaining their families successful a clip of war.
“The world of The Station distills what I cherish astir Yemeni nine into a vulnerable utopia, perpetually shadowed by turmoil beyond its walls. It is simply a speculative abstraction rooted successful Yemen but not confined to a circumstantial clip aliases place, and reflected done an absurd and sometimes exaggerated parallel reality,” said Ishaq of nan film.
“The Station is little astir warfare itself than astir its consequences. At its core, this movie is astir group successful each their complexity, contradiction and resilience. It is an ode to nan group of Yemen, who person endured years of warfare pinch dignity, humour and strength.”
Paradise City Sales, which was antecedently known arsenic Memento International, has been pursuing nan production’s advancement for immoderate time.
“We were wholly seduced by The Station, pinch its unsocial cinematic position group successful a world seldom portrayed connected screen. The movie finds ray wrong darkness, offering a heartwarming communicative of womanhood, family and resilience, group against profoundly melodramatic circumstances that resonate pinch urgent relevance today,” said nan company.
The movie is produced by Screen Project (Jordan), a Ta Films Company led by Nadia Eliewat, pinch Georges Films (France). Co-producers see One Two Films (Germany), Keplerfilm (Netherlands), Barentsfilm (Norway), Setara Films (Yemen), The Imaginarium Films (Jordan) and SiamFilms (Egypt).
The task is besides successful co-production pinch ARTE and ZDF / Das kleine Fernsehspiel, and successful relation pinch Kalamata Film and Raxicon Private Capital Advisory.
In a motion of what it takes to get a movie for illustration this disconnected nan ground, The Station is supported by Jordan Film Fund, Doha Film Institute, Arab Fund For Arts And Culture, Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Aide Aux Cinémas Du Monde, Centre nationalist du cinéma et de l’image animée, Institut français, Région Île-De-France/ Paris Region, Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg, FFA – Filmförderungsanstalt, Hubert Bals Fund + Netherlands Film Fund, Hubert Bals Fund + Europe, NL Production Incentive, Sørfond, Norwegian Ministry Of Foreign Affairs, and Eurimages.
Paradise City Sales’ existent slate besides includes post-production titles Titanic Ocean by Konstantina Kotzamani, A Girl’s Story by Judith Godrèche, Baran: Inheritance by Joel Soh and Love Lessons by Martin Provost.
