Saba Mubarak Reveals Details on Her Latest Films at the Cannes Film Festival through the Arab Cinema Center

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The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul | Inshallah It's A Boy (A Chapter From The Fabled Life Of Nawal)

Saba Mubarak Reveals Details on Her Latest Films at the Cannes Film Festival through the Arab Cinema Center


Jordanian star/producer Saba Mubarak is taking part in the 70th Cannes Film Festival (17-28 May) with her production company Pan East Media. Run by Jordanian star Saba Mubarak, Pan East Media joined the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) as one of its partners to accompany the center at the festival where Mubarak is revealing the details on her latest new films: The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul and Inshallah It's A Boy (A Chapter From The Fabled Life Of Nawal).

The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul follows the journey of Lena and Meryem during their escape from the war in Syria. Lena is a ten-year-old girl who has lost her family in the war. She finds herself forced to make her way to Turkey with her baby sister and their neighbor Meryem, along with the other refugees. Lena wants to return home, while Meryem's hope is reach Europe.

Written and directed by Turkish director AndaƧ Haznederoğlu, The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul stars Saba Mubarak and child Rawan Skeif, alongside a number of real Syrian refugees who are acting for the first time. Screendaily magazine has exclusively highlighted the film on Thursday, the 18th of May.

Commenting on her new film, Jordanian star/producer Saba Mubarak stated, "The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul deals with the issue of Syrian refugees, not only in Turkey, but all over the world, as it is one of the most important issues in the world today, in my point of view. These refugees have left their homes under bombardment and difficult circumstances, and some of them have even left the bodies of their children behind, crossing the border, spending nights in refugee camps, and rarely being treated well in the European countries they escape to."

Film Analyst and Co-founder of MAD Solutions Alaa Karkouti, Co-founder of the Arab Cinema Center (ACC), pointed out saying, "The key elements of The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul are represented in being a co-production between three Arab and European countries, which added to the film's value and quality. Likewise, having Jordanian star Saba Mubarak on board as not only the film's leading star, but producer has remarkably increased the film's potentiality in enjoying great exposure in the Arab world and beyond."

The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul is a co-production between the Turkish companies; AndaƧ Film Productions, Istanbul Digital (ID) and Istanbul Film Production (IFP)and the Jordanian company Pan East Media. The film project has received financial support from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and MAD Solutions is handling the marketing services for the film, in addition to its distribution in the Arab world.

On being a co-producer of the film, Mubarak comments, "This film is very special to me. At first, I was only offered to star in it, but my admiration for the humanistic screenplay and the message of hope that it delivers made me want to take part in its production. This is considered as the most important experience is my career so far, as it expresses my vision and view as an artist who is interested in the challenges facing the community in which live."

At the same time, Jordanian actress Saba Mubarak has signed for the lead role in director Amjad Al-Rasheed's debut feature film Inshallah It's A Boy (A Chapter From The Fabled Life Of Nawal). The film is co-produced by producer Diala Al Raie, a salient producer with an extensive experience whose credits include Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the Oscar-nominated Theeb, and producer Ayah Jardaneh. Al-Rasheed's film project The Parrot is one of the film projects funded by the German Robert Bosch Stiftung Foundation, which funds the Best German-Arab Film Projects.

Inshallah It's A Boy (A Chapter From The Fabled Life Of Nawal) tells the story of the recently widowed Nawal, whose brother-in law is pressuring her to sell the house so he can get his hands on inheritance from his deceased brother, in accordance with the Islamic Law. Nawal starts looking for a man to impregnate her in order to retain her right, and that of her only daughter, to keep their home.

Pan East Media is a media production company established in 2011 by Jordanian actress Saba Mubarak with a main objective to create a genuine audio-visual content in Jordan and to present first-rate artistic work on both regional and international levels. The company started its production activity in 2013 with the Jordanian comedy drama TV series Zain, which aired on multiple TV networks including MBC and Abu Dhabi One. The TV series follows Zain, a woman in her 30s who struggles to revive her father's business after his death and her troubled relationship with the family. A second season of the TV series was made after the success of its first season. In 2014, the company produced the TV series Tawq Al Asphalt, a Bedouin, historic drama series inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet that shows the lives of Bedouin tribes in the early 20th century and the conflicts that took place between them over power, grazing lands and honor. The TV series premiered during Ramadan 2014 on Abu Dhabi One.