The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul Wins the Audience Award at the Antalya Film Festival

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Starring and Produced by Star Saba Mubarak

The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul Wins the Audience Award at the Antalya Film Festival


At its Turkish premiere, the film The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul by director Andaç Haznederoğlu, starring Saba Mubarak, won the Audience Award at the 54th Antalya Film Festival (October 21-27), where it competed in the festival's International Competition that witnessed a large audience who expressed their admiration of the film and its cause by a big standing ovation.

Written and directed by Turkish director Andaç 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.

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.

The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul is a co-production between the Turkish companies; Andaç 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. MAD Solutions is handling the film's distribution in the Arab world.

Star Saba Mubarak participated in many charity activities related to refugees. She attended a celebration held by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where she delivered a speech about the refugee crisis in the Arab world. In her speech, Mubarak talked about the humane situations she experienced while shooting her new film The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul.