Sara Ishaq
Yemen,Netherlands
Film Director and Trainer
Cinema,Cultural Management,Education,Human Rights
While pursuing an MFA in Film Directing at the Edinburgh College of Art in 2011, Sara returned home to Yemen to document the country's 'Arab Spring'. At the same time, she filmed her short documentary film Karama Has No Walls (2012), which was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award and an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short). In 2013, her award-winning personal documentary, The Mulberry House, premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and aired on Al Jazeera English. In 2017, Sara co-founded Comra Films, a Yemen-based film foundation dedicated to creative film production and training. Her debut fiction feature, The Station, which was selected for L’Atelier de la Cinéfondation at the Cannes Film Festival in 2020 and won Best Film in Post-Production in Venice 2025, will premiere in 2026. Sara currently runs the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk in Amsterdam.
Sara Ishaq
Yemen,Netherlands
Film Director and Trainer
Cinema,Cultural Management,Education,Human Rights
While pursuing an MFA in Film Directing at the Edinburgh College of Art in 2011, Sara returned home to Yemen to document the country's 'Arab Spring'. At the same time, she filmed her short documentary film Karama Has No Walls (2012), which was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award and an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short). In 2013, her award-winning personal documentary, The Mulberry House, premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and aired on Al Jazeera English. In 2017, Sara co-founded Comra Films, a Yemen-based film foundation dedicated to creative film production and training. Her debut fiction feature, The Station, which was selected for L’Atelier de la Cinéfondation at the Cannes Film Festival in 2020 and won Best Film in Post-Production in Venice 2025, will premiere in 2026. Sara currently runs the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk in Amsterdam.
Juror
Wijhat
Round 03
2024
Grantee
Mawa3eed
Round 03
2012
Production of her film Fatherland
Received a grant to travel from Scotland to Egypt then to Yemen to finalize the production of her film Fatherland.