Yesterday, Wednesday, February 22, the screening halls of Novo The Pearl in Doha witnessed the premiere of the movie “Al-Hamra and Ibn Al-Khatib” in the Arab region, which took seven years to complete, and it is the largest co-production of Al-Jazeera Documentary Channel in 2022.
The show was attended by big personalities, led by the film's hero, the Egyptian actor Amr Waked, the Spanish film director "Isabel Fernandette", the Spanish ambassador to Doha "Javier Sanchez" and a number of diplomats and media figures.
In his introductory speech, the director of Al-Jazeera Documentary Channel, Ahmed Mahfouz, said that the film is the result of seven years of hard work and academic research to produce the film in the best way.
Ahmed Mahfouz added that Al Jazeera Documentary's decision to participate in the production of the film stems from the vision of the channel that supports qualitative productions that represent a bridge between cultures, and thus the viewer will learn about a page of Andalusian history with the voice of those who documented it 7 centuries ago, after that voice disappeared in the films that dealt with the history of Granada. globally before.
Ahmed Mahfouz, director of Al-Jazeera Documentary Channel, accompanied by Egyptian actor Amr Waked and Spanish director Isabelle Fernandette
For her part, Spanish director Isabel Fernandez said that the idea of the film came from her admiration for the Islamic heritage in Spain and the impact left by Muslims in Europe, which reached its peak in the fourteenth century.
She also stressed that filming in the Alhambra Palace - which she described as the most difficult place to obtain a filming license in - was almost impossible had it not been for luck and the Corona virus, in which the Spanish authorities allowed filming at the real site of the Alhambra Palace due to its temporary closure from visitors.
The Egyptian actor, Amr Waked, who played the role of Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib, said that his assumption of this role made him love Islamic history more, and made him discover a history that is almost forgotten among Muslims.
He also said that this film is a call for tolerance and acceptance of the other, and it is a lesson for all scholars and lovers of history, far from propaganda and intellectual and political purposes.
A part of the audience who attended the premiere of the film in the Arab region
He also did not miss the opportunity to praise the director “Isabel Fernandez”’s interest in historical details in the film, giving an example of this interest in a story that occurred during the filming of a scene taking place in a local market in which carts selling carrots appear, so the director stopped filming to make sure that the carrots were being sold during that period. until it appears on the scene.
The film deals with the history of the Kingdom of Granada according to the Arabic novel, as its events take place during the period of Minister Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib, and deals with the story of building the Alhambra Palace during the period of Sultan Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf I.
In a style that combines the documentary and the imaginary, the film depicts the history of the construction of the Alhambra Palace and the reasons that prompted its construction, based on academic studies on the writings written by the minister and poet Sanseddine Ibn Al-Khatib in the fourteenth century.