Sara Ishaq's 'The Station' Premieres at Cannes
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- Sara Ishaq is an Academy Award‑nominated Yemeni‑Scottish filmmaker whose new fiction film "The Station" premiered at Cannes Critics' Week.
- The Station focuses on Layal, the operator of a women‑only gas station in Sanaa, Yemen, which serves as a rare safe haven amid the country's civil war.
- Ishaq originally considered a documentary in 2015 but abandoned it due to security and cultural restrictions, opting instead for a fictional narrative to incorporate broader personal and social experiences.
- The Station uses blue and orange armbands to symbolize Yemen's shifting political factions, employing parody to avoid overt geopolitical exposition.
- Paradise City Sales provided Variety with an exclusive clip, highlighting the film's emphasis on everyday joys—colors, frankincense, laughter, and singing—behind closed doors.
Why it matters: The Cannes debut amplifies Yemeni women’s stories, giving Layal’s safe‑haven gas station global visibility and challenging war‑centric narratives, which may spur cultural empathy and support for similar grassroots spaces.
