Product Details

• Actors: Nabil Saber, Julia Towns, Dania Hammoud, Redha Khoder, Paolo Romano
• Directors: Bader Ben Hirsi
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: Arabic
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Typecast Releasing
• DVD Release Date: April 22, 2008
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000RG1HI6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,445 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review

It weaves a fairytale of unrequited love, bundled together with an anecdote or two suffused with local color... it indulges in a bit of magic realism. --Toronto Daily Star

"A comedy following the pattern of ancient plays by Plaut or Aristophanes."

"It weaves a fairytale of unrequited love, bundled together with an anecdote or two suffused with local color. . . it indulges in a bit of magic realism."

Product Description

Winner
- Cairo Film Festival

World Premiere
- Cannes International Film Festival

U.S. Premiere
- Seattle Arab & Iranian Film Festival

Official Selection
- Vancouver International Film Festival

Official Selection
- Arabian Sights, Film Fest D.C.

Official Selection
- Palm Springs International Film Festival

In this achingly romantic tale, handsome young Tariq is about to marry Bilquis, eldest daughter of a prominent and powerful judge. But as he wanders the ancient city of Sana'a late one night, he spots a beautiful young woman dancing in the street and falls madly in love with her. Before long, the young groom must choose between following his heart and protecting his family's honor. Filmed entirely on location in the ancient city of Sana'a, this exquisite film is the first feature ever to come out of Yemen.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely charming, magically captivating and an extremely touching movie, October 3, 2007

By 

Ishraq Yacoub (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New Day in Old Sana'a (DVD)

A daunting task with a haunting ending - that is the story behind the first Yemeni movie ever made: "A New Day in Old Sana'a". The director, Bader Ben Hirsi, faced numerous challenges such as financial limitations, and a lot more which crippled his beloved project, luckily, the director's vision persevered and this beautiful movie was created.

"A New Day in Old Sana'a" is a romantic comedy/drama and it revolves around a wealthy Yemeni groom who falls in love with a woman he mistakenly thinks is his aristocratic bride. In a strange twist of events, she turns out to be a poor woman of a humble background, and the groom faces the conflict between his heart and jeopardizing his family's honor if they dishonored the marriage commitment to his real bride's family (a very serious matter in Yemen). Not only did the director communicate with exotic and meaningful imagery, set in the enchanting old city of Sana'a, (which was built before the 11th century and one of the World Heritage sites recognized by UNESCO) but he also skillfully displayed the characters' warmth, wit and exposed their vulnerabilities, adding to the spellbinding nature of this movie, which eventually leads to a somewhat unrelenting ending. When you watch this movie, be prepared to laugh, to be emotionally moved, visually mesmerized and ready to go on a trip to a unique place that do exist in the real world but that is occupied with too familiar conflicts.

As with any project that attempts to introduce new and unfamiliar ideas, one could expect resistance. But the degree to which it crippled this project almost drove Hirsi to give up on it. In addition to the normal pressures, Hirsi felt the overwhelming responsibility of knowing that his movie could either open the door for more Yemeni movies or permanently close it. Even after completing it, there was the difficulty in distributing the movie internationally. Some of the distributors were disappointed because the movie didn't fit their notion of what an Arabic movie should be about, as this movie was about a love story, which didn't fit the distributors' stereotypical mold.

All the media coverage about this movie was more than encouraging and it was notably received by both audiences and critics, despite the fact that it was not widely released theatrically. The movie was previewed at several international film festivals including Cannes Film Festival and it won the Best Arab Film Award at the 2005 Cairo International Film Festival.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liked it overall, though disagree on some aspects, September 16, 2008

By 

Ahmed A. Hamidalddin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New Day in Old Sana'a (DVD)

First of all, this is not your highly 'cinematic' movie, but rather a more 'theatrical' film. You should try to deeply sink into the story, the scenes, and the characters to understand this; although it does have well crafted visual elements at times as well.
This is a good (at the very least) product showing many aspects of Yemen. Not sure where to stand with the addition of the Italian character/narrator (rest assured, all other characters are Yemeni, except one). But after all, this is an internationally-aimed film.
The first full-feature Yemeni film, and it's not even aimed towards the Arab-film audience! The star of this all is Bader Ben Hirsi. The great direction of Bader shows immense experience. Timing of comic elements was perfected, and would please all nationalities. On the other hand, dramatic build-up is top-notch. Don't forget, these are not experienced, nor even trained, actors.
This is a story with realistic elements drawn from culture (The film shows several picturesques of Yemen). This imposes challenges on the story characters. It has a very not-so-happy ending. I consider it the best way to end. This is a film for the whole family to watch.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not well done, but Yemeni, February 9, 2009

By 

Jedidiah Palosaari "Not My Real Name" (Fes, Morocco) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New Day in Old Sana'a (DVD)

If this movie had been produced in the US, it would be deserving of one star. It feels like two rather disjointed movies: one with an Italian musing in English in a stereotypical Western Orientalist manner, and the other the daily life of the Yemeni of Sana'a, the capitol city. The former is irrelevant, and it would have been a better movie to focus on the lives of the Yemeni, without the track of the Italian's thoughts. He commits the most egregious cultural mistakes and breaks the most basic taboos, all the while sharing with us that he knew it was wrong but couldn't help himself. He's basically your stereotypical rude Westerner, and yet the film finds no fault in him, for he provides our omniscient viewpoint that we as Westerners are supposed to identify with.

Sadly, the Yemeni life portions of the movie are badly acted, or at least about what you'd find in a bad Arab sitcom. (There are certainly good Arab sitcoms, like Lalla Fatima of Morocco. This is not one of them.) Most were not trained actors, and it shows, with wooden dialogue and even more wooden presentation. The humor, near constant in the Arab dialogue, is the equivalent of what passed for humor on American TV in the 40s, when they were still fascinated by the concept of television.

And this is exactly why I rate this movie so high. There has never, ever, been a feature film out of Yemen. Most of the actors are Yemeni. There is literally no other movie out there that shows the amazing beauty of Sana'a, the Gingerbread City, so well, nor one that displays so accurately Yemeni dialect and culture. There are great insights here into marriage customs, gender dynamics, and most especially the all present 'ib, or shame. There is certainly nothing so accessible to English-speaking audience, as large portions of this movie are in English, and the rest with subtitles.

I would hope that forty years from now, this movie is looked on as very primitive, because the Yemeni film industry has grown into a burgeoning industry. At the moment, it is a groundbreaking work. If you love Yemen, or want to learn to love it, this is the film to see. And don't forget to watch the stinger after the credits are over.