AmDocs 2019 – Just Another Memory
Just Another Memory covers the ongoing war in Yemen. It explores the anger, hope, and suppressed pain, and examines what it feels like to be suddenly uprooted and displaced by war.
Interview with Director Mariam Al-Dhubhani
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
The motivation to make this documentary for me was to heal. Until last summer, I was away from home and haven't been able to see my family in almost three years. I was fortunate enough to leave Yemen at the peak of the current war in 2015, but being away and safe didn't solve my problems. Just Another Memory turned from a learning process into a healing one when I decided to explore the emotional and psychological effects the war had on me even while being away. I felt like I was stuck and needed to process the burden I am carrying around to be able to move forward, and I believe that I managed to start at least fragmenting the mountain accumulated over the past few years.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
I would like for the audience to watch Just Another Memory so they could take away empathy, and try to seek alternative narratives. My film is about my personal journey and a different view on the ongoing war in Yemen. Empathy is with personal struggles while seeking a different view is for the daily bulk of news we receive today.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Just Another Memory came as a process of healing. It was something that I decided to create for myself before even thinking about sharing it with others. Escaping war did not really help in liberating me from its emotional and psychological burdens. I was kept as a hostage to the past unable to enjoy the present or positively build my future. This personal documentary is a piece of me that tells not only a part of my life but also highlights an important humanitarian crisis that is not fairly covered by the media. "Just Another Memory" helped me take the first step to heal and find a way to tell the story of my home and my people.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Since it is a documentary, I started with only a simple treatment on Yemeni diaspora in Doha, which included my husband and me, as the glue, to connect their stories. Later, it got stripped down until it became focused on myself. Through that, I got a bigger window into telling the story of Yemen.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
There is this one particular feedback that I received from a professor who is also a known documentary filmmaker that came a bit shocking, but unfortunately, understandable. He is a person who only heard of Yemen from the news, and for him, my story seemed 'incomplete' and made me look 'naive' as if I do not really know what is happening in my home country. I was very polite and just nodded and thanked him. But how is someone who has never lived my life or know anything about my home get to say that? News. News empowers people to think they know everything there is to show on a country like Yemen. No other narrative is allowed in. Not even that of the people who actually live that war and are from that place.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I am hoping to get more exposure to the topics the documentary deals with.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I need distributors, film festival directors, and journalists.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
The main impact that I wish for this film to have is to break the current stream of stereotypical flow of information.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What now?
Would you like to add anything else?
The film also delves into a struggle only women are closely familiar with. There is a critical scene in the documentary that captures a conversation I had with my husband that we never had before.
Here is my TEDx talk where I speak more of an impact of an outlier of war and the reason behind the making of my first documentary.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
My upcoming documentary titled In The Middle is currently in post-production and was filmed in Yemen this winter break. Logline: Forced to pick up arms, Ali is stranded between his crushed dreams and the harsh reality of Aden— a city torn apart by the ongoing war in Yemen.
The current war in Yemen is one of the most underreported conflicts. As the Middle East region is going through many unstable developments, the Yemeni narrative gets lost in the clutter. A majority of the stories that manage to come out from Yemen are all of famine, cholera, destruction, and despair, none of which are told by Yemenis. It is usually a parachuting reporter who briefs the world in, like a news strap that passes through television screens; momentary and not very impactful. Documenting stories from Yemen by Yemenis are crucial at this time. My husband Mohammed Al-Jaberi and I are equipped to provide Ali with a platform and tell his story with him. Ali represents a vast majority of youth who are unable to just 'live,' but instead, they need to continually struggle to survive.
Interview: April 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Just Another Memory
Just Another Memory covers the ongoing war in Yemen. It explores the anger, hope, and suppressed pain, and examines what it feels like to be suddenly uprooted and displaced by war.
Length: 14:04
Director: Mariam Al-Dhubhani
Producer: Yassmine Hammoudi
Writer: Mariam Al-Dhubhani
About the writer, director and producer:
MARIAM AL-DHUBHANI is a Yemeni-Russian journalist and filmmaker. She is currently a senior at Northwestern University in Qatar. She first pursued her passion for media during the 2011 Arab uprisings. Al-Dhubhani co-founded a production company named Background Group for Media. Her first short film We are the Peace (2011) received an award in Yemen's inaugural film festival. Wishes for the New Year (2012) was the first chalkboard animation in the Middle East. Her recent film Just Another Memory (2018) is her directorial debut mentored by Oscar-nominated Director Rithy Panh with Doha Film Institute, which got the best documentary award at Ajyal Film Festival, 2018.
Key cast: Mohammed Al-Jaberi, The husband
Looking for: film festival directors, distributors, journalists
Facebook: Al-Dhubhani Mariam
Twitter: @MariamDhubhani
Instagram: @maria.a.noman
Hashtags used: #JustAnotherMemory
Website: www.dohafilminstitute.com
Made in association with: Doha Film Institute
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? AmDocs American Documentary Film Festival and Film Fund on the 30th of March, 2019.