A film from Yemen in French cinemas, “Les Lueurs d’Aden”, a rarity

The feature film reveals the urban landscapes of Aden, a city in the south of the country located on the Arabian Peninsula, which has been gripped by a conflict for more than eight years between pro-government fighters and Houthi rebels.

With The Lights of Adena very rare Yemeni film to be released in French cinemas on Wednesday January 31, filmmaker Amr Gamal says he wants “open a window” on his homeland. In this feature film shot in Aden, the city where the director is from, Isra’a and Ahmed, parents of three children, fight daily against the poverty which ravages their country, devastated for more than eight years by a conflict between the combatants pro-government to the Houthi rebels.

When Isra’a learns that she is pregnant again, the married couple decides to have an abortion: they cannot afford to raise a fourth child. But the procedure proves complicated in this deeply religious and conservative country on the Arabian Peninsula.

Amr Gamal (39 years old), who also directed in 2018 Ten days before the weddingone of the rare Yemeni feature films of recent years, said he wanted to make this film to show his city to the world, during its presentation at the last Berlin Film Festival: “I love my city so much and I feel it needs to be shown – its heritage, its buildings, its streets, the culture, the clothes, the food”he told AFP.

His film reveals the urban landscapes of Aden, a southern city controlled by the government and which became temporary capital after the capture of Sanaa by the Houthis in 2014. With, in the background, the mountains and the ocean, as well as authentic street scenes with locals.

The weight of war

To realize The Lights of Aden, he said he was inspired by a couple he knew. “I was close to my friend and his wife. The idea came to me when I saw them having to go through all these steps”, he developed. In the film, the couple chose abortion, but the woman has more doubts than her husband. “Maybe if it hadn’t been for the war, the economic chaos and if they hadn’t lost their jobs, their fourth child would be playing with his siblings now“, asks Amr Gamal.