links / references
PRODUCTION
Stefanie Brockhaus
sbrockhaus@stefaniebrockhaus.com
stefaniebrockhaus.com
TRAILER
youtu.be/U_65ev6tDHA
VoD
thepoetessfilm.com
PRESS
variety.com/2017/film/reviews/...
filmuforia.com/the-poetess-201...
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
THE POETESS
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Production Company
PRODUCTION
Stefanie Brockhaus
sbrockhaus@stefaniebrockhaus.com
stefaniebrockhaus.com
TRAILER
youtu.be/U_65ev6tDHA
VoD
thepoetessfilm.com
PRESS
variety.com/2017/film/reviews/...
filmuforia.com/the-poetess-201...
THE POETESS
Synopsis
Hissa Hilal is the voice from behind the veil. Her weapon is her word. Hissa is a self-taught writer and she says what she thinks. She decides to take part in the Million’s Poet show, an Abu-Dhabi based TV show. It is the Arab world’s biggest poetry competition, and it is dominated by men. Hissa works herself up, becoming the first woman in the finals. In her poems she criticizes the patriarchal Arab society and she attacks one of the most notorious Saudi clerics for his extremist fatwas, live, in front of 75 million viewers. We’ll never see Hissa’s face. Like the majority of Saudi women, Hissa is covered from head to toe. She is not allowed to drive a car. She doesn’t own a passport. And she requires consent from her husband for any sort of activity. Coming out of nowhere, the housewife Hissa is suddenly breaking news in the biggest Western and Arab media. How did she gain the knowledge and the courage to step on stage and risk her life? This is Hissa‘s story.Cast & Crew
- Director
- Producer
- Director of photographyTobias Tempel, Stefanie Brockhaus
- Protagonist
- Editor (Cut)
- Sound Design
- Original Score
Festivals/awards
* German Documentary Award (Norbert Daldrop Prize)* European Film Award Documentary Selection
* Locarno Film Festival (Semaine de la Critique)
* IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
* All About Freedom Gdansk (Poland)
* Zurich Human Rights Film Festival (Switzerland)
* DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival (Finland)
* Stockholm Feminist Film Festival (Sweden)
* One World International Film Festival (Czech Republic)
* CPH:DOX (Copenhagen, Denmark)
* One World Romania (Bucharest, Romania)
* Millenium International Documentary Film Festival (Belgium)
* Middle East Now Festival (Firenze, Italy)
* Bolzano Film Festival Bozen (Italy)
* Millenium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival (Warszawa, Poland)
* Sydney Film Festival (Australia)
* Esperanzah! (Floreffe, Belgium)
* Festivaletteratura (Camposampiero, Italy)
* Salé Women Film Festival
* San Francisco Arab Film Festival
* Verzio Film Festival (Budapest, Hungary)
* La Mostra de CineBaix (Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Barcelona), Spain)
* DocHouse London (UK)
* Movies that Matter Foundation (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
* The British Museum (London, UK)
* Kitzbühel Filmfestival (Austria)
* Marda Loop Justice Film Festival (Calgary, Canada)
* Meeting per l'amicizia fra i Popoli (Rimini, Italy)
* European Union Human Rights Film Festival (Ankara, Turkey)
* One World Slovakia (Bratislava, Slovak Republic)
* Toronto Human Rights Watch Film Festival (Canada)
* Cinema Akil (Dubai, UAE)
* Docs Against Gravity Film Festival (Poland)
* London Human Rights Watch Film Festival (UK)
*Docaviv (Tel Aviv, Israel)
* DOK Leipzig (Germany)
* Dubai International Film Festival (UAE)
* São Paulo International Film Festival (Brazil)
* Terre de Femmes - FrauenWelten Filmfest (Tübingen, Germany)
* Zurich Human Rights Film Festival (Switzerland)
* All About Freedom Gdansk (Poland)
Director's comment
Hissa Hilal is a contradiction. She appears covered in black, her face is hardly visible and she could be perceived as a fanatic religious Muslim. But all of this is not the case. Hissa is a Saudi woman with four children who was born into a traditional Bedouin family in a desert tent. It's only natural for her to wear a burqa. This is a film about a woman who grabs the opportunity to speak out and to talk against religious extremism to stand for a peaceful Islam.Production Company
Cast & Crew
Stefanie Brockhaus, Andreas WolffAndreas Wolff, Stefanie Brockhaus
Tobias Tempel, Stefanie Brockhaus
Hissa Hilal
Hansjörg Weißbrich, Anja Pohl
Christoph von Schönburg
Sebastian Zenke
