Creative.
Authentic.
Independent.
Our team is made up of Yemen’s most established, award-winning filmmakers – from highly experienced fixers to internationally recognised cameramen and Oscar nominated directors. We combine know-how, creativity and an independent vision with local access and expertise.
Our dream is to foster Yemen’s culture in the most challenging of times and preserve the essence of its past and present through powerful filmmaking.
Training
Learning & Creativity
Our entire team has been trained as filmmakers, first, and subsequently as film-trainers. In addition, all the freelancers we work with have taken part in training programs led by members of our team (such as documentary and fiction, editing and more), ensuring that everyone adheres to our high quality and ethical standards of filmmaking.
Through our training programs, we aim to meet another important objective: to support and promote the next generation of Yemeni filmmakers.
The Heart
Of Yemen’s Film Network
Since 2011, the founders of Comra Films have worked with, and also contributed to the emergence of some of Yemen’s most exciting new talent – independently and with other collectives – amassing an unrivalled, burgeoning network of freelance media professionals from across the country.
At our Comra Community Centre, we offer independent filmmakers a safe-space to meet, exchange ideas and skillsets, collaborate on films, watch and discuss films and learn!
Perspective
Authentic & Independent
The ground upon which we stand is our perspective. We are a group of Yemeni film professionals who have always aimed to shed light on the most pressing issues our country faces. We are not attached to any state institutions, political factions or receive funding from any other stakeholders.
we have a massive database of freelancers that we worked with all around Yemen.
Sara Ishaq is an Oscar and BAFTA nominated Yemeni-Scottish filmmaker. She pursued a higher education in Scotland first with an MA General in Humanities & Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh (2007) and later, a Film Directing diploma from the London Academy of Radio, Film and TV, followed by an MFA in Film Directing at the Edinburgh College of Art, UoE (2012). In between, she trained as a yoga teacher in Nasik, India.
In 2007, Sara began freelancing for the BBC on a number of TV series covering the Middle East, before buying her own camera and traveling to Palestine for 3 months in 2010 to document the eviction of the Palestinian residents of El-Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. In early 2011, she returned to Yemen as the country's 2011 uprising was unfolding and began covering events in Sanaa's 'Change Square', first disseminating the videos through her own youtube channel, until she was hired as a camerawoman for the BBC to cover events on the ground.
In 2011, she also began independently covering the tragic events of the 18th of March 'Friday of Dignity' massacre in the Yemeni capital Sana'a. This endeavour inevitably evolved into her debut film Karama Has No Walls (2012). This short doc went on to win multiple awards worldwide, followed by a nomination for a BAFTA Scotland New Talents Award (2012) and a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) in 2014 (the very first Oscar nomination for Yemen).
In 2011, she co-founded #SupportYemen media collective with a group of friends, including Karama Has No Walls assistant director, Abdurahman Hussain, in an attempt to break the silence on the media black-out on violations of human rights during and after the country's uprising.
In 2013, Sara completed her award-winning feature documentary film The Mulberry House, which deals with her relationship with her Yemeni family against the backdrop of the revolution.
After the outbreak of war in Yemen in 2015, Sara returned to Yemen and led the training of a creative Doc FIlm Camp at #SupportYemen media collective, alongside Abdurahman Hussain, which was the first of its kind in Yemen. Independently, with the support of the British Council, she later ran an arts workshop for children who had survived airstrikes on their homes.
In 2017, Sara co-founded Comra Films with Yousra Ishaq, Abdurahman Hussain and Osama Khaled who she had already worked closely with and/or trained over the years at #SupportYemen. She later stepped down from #SupportYemen to focus efforts on film trainings and creative productions at Comra Films.
Sara is currently based in Amsterdam where she co-manages Comra Films remotely, but returns to Yemen to continue working and teaching on the ground each year.
Independently, she is developing a documentary film on the current war in Yemen, along with her first fiction feature film, ``The Station``.
Besides filmmaking, Sara has been an avid yoga teacher since 2008, teaching extensively in Edinburgh, the West Bank, Sana'a & Cairo.
Yousra is film producer based in Sana’a, Yemen. She holds a B.Sc. degree in business administration and entrepreneurship from UUM University and received courses in Strategic Communications. Over the past 5 years, she has produced documentaries for various local & international organizations and media outlets, such as the BBC and PBS, focusing on conflict, post-conflict societies, humanitarian, and people in need. Prior to co-founding Comra, she worked as a project coordinator and line producer for leading Yemeni and international media outlets such as Afro1, #SupportYemen, Innovia House,Moby Media Group and others. Her distinguished communications skills, professionalism and impeccable production skills have allowed her to deliver excellent substance to her client’s objectives.
partners
