Would you believe a beautiful romantic comedy from Saudi Arabia, the land where movie theaters aren’t even allowed? Director Mahmoud Sabbagh’s charmer has captured audience’s hearts at festivals around the world, and has opened the West’s eyes to love’s possibilities in the desert kingdom. Barakah is a humble municipal civil servant from Jeddah, and Bibi is a wild beauty, the adopted daughter of a rich couple who are distraught over their inability to have biological children. He’s also an amateur actor playing Ophelia in a local production of Hamlet, while she is an Instagram star always seeking to push the boundaries in her home and her country. In an environment hostile to dating of any kind, fate brings these two together. Starring internet sensation and Saudi comedian Hisham Fageeh, Barakah Meets Barakah is only the second Saudi Arabian entry for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in history.
Director’s Biography
Mahmoud Sabbagh: Mahmoud Sabbagh was born in 1983 and is an independent Saudi filmmaker, producer, and writer. Sabbagh has been a major pioneer of independent cinema in Saudi Arabia since 2013. He holds an MS from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where he studied storytelling filmmaking and currently lives in Jeddah.