The Saudi poetess Hissa Hilal made headlines around the world as the first woman to ever make it to the finals of “Million’s Poet”, an Abu-Dhabi based Million Dollar reality television show. It is the Arab world's biggest poetry competition, and it is dominated by men. In her poems, Hissa criticizes the patriarchal Arab society and she attacks one of the most notorious Saudi clerics for his extremist fatwas, live, in front of 75 million viewers.

Hissa Hilal is the voice from behind the veil: Her word is her weapon. We’ll never see Hissa's face. Like the majority of Saudi women, Hissa is covered from head to toe. She is not allowed to drive a car. She doesn’t own a passport. And she requires consent from her husband for any sort of activity. But then, coming out of nowhere, Hissa is suddenly breaking news in the biggest Western and Arab media. How did she gain the knowledge and the courage to step on stage and risk her life?

Direction: Stefanie Brockhaus, Andreas Wolff

Script: Stefanie Brockhaus, Andreas Wolff

Production: Andreas Wolff

Cinematography: Tobias Tempel, Stefanie Brockhaus

Editing: Hansjörg Weißbrich, Anja Pohl

Sound: Christoph von Schönburg

Original Score: Sebastian Zenke

Cast: Hissa Hilal

Original Title: THE POETESS

Original Language: Arabic

Film Production Countries: Germany, United Arab Emirates

Website: www.thepoetessfilm.com

Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/thesaudipoetess/

Statement of the Director/s
Hissa Hilal is a contradiction. She appears covered in black, her face is hardly visible and she could be perceived as a fanatic religious Muslim. But all of this is not the case. Hissa is a Saudi woman with four children who was born into a traditional Bedouin family in a desert tent. It's only natural for her to wear a burqa. This is a film about a woman who grabs the opportunity to speak out and to talk against religious extremism to stand for a peaceful Islam.

Biography of the Director/s
Stefanie Brockhaus grew up in Munich, Germany. She got interested in photography during her early school years.

In the late 1990s she moved to London and enrolled at Art School. The city and the New British Art scene influenced her early work. In 2002 Stefanie graduated from London University of the Arts with a BA in Film Directing. Her Diploma film went on to win the Lux award for best short film and screened at the MOMA in New York.

Later she studied at the Munich University of Television and Film (HFF), where she specialized in documentary directing. Her first feature documentary On The Other Side Of Life was followed by Some Things Are Hard To Talk About and The Poetess.

Stefanie has realized several feature documentaries as producer and director, some of them in collaboration with Andreas Wolff. Their films have screened at international film festivals world wide and have won numerous awards.
Stefanie currently works as an independent filmmaker in Marseille. She has lived in London, Los Angeles, Cape Town and Munich.

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Andreas Wolff became a professional windsurfer at the age of 17. He was ranked 2nd at King of the Lake Freestyle World Cup, outrunning two world champions, Josh Stone and Jason Polakow. He competed on PWA Windsurfers’ World Pro Tour for more than ten years, finishing top five and top ten on various World Cups.
As an athlete, he produced award winning magazine articles and videos, discovering remote wavesailing destinations in India, Madagascar, New Caledonia, Tubuai and Chagos Islands.
In 2006, Andreas Wolff enrolled at USC’s Graduate School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. He continued his studies at HFF University for TV and Film Munich where he graduated with a Diploma/MFA in documentary filmmaking.
His feature documentary debut ON THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE (co-directed by Stefanie Brockhaus) US premiered at SXSW film festival. It was awarded Best Feature Film at Milan Film Festival and received jury awards at Ronda, Camden IFF and Dok Fest Munich.
His second feature doc THE CAPTAIN AND HIS PIRATE was officially selected at Berlinale International Film Festival. It received a German Camera Award for Best Editing and a Doc Alliance Award Nomination. It also received jury awards at DOK Leipzig, Zagreb IFF, DOK Munich and Millenium Brussels IFF.
His latest feature documentary THE POETESS (co-directed by Stefanie Brockhaus) premiered at Locarno Film Festival (Semaine de la Critique). It was officially selected by IDFA Amsterdam, won the Norbert Daldrop prize at German Documentary Awards and is part of the documentary selection for the European Film Award 2018.
He previously lived on Maui (Hawaii), Cape Town, Paris, Los Angeles and Marseille. Today, he is based in Munich.

Filmography of the Director/s
Stefanie Brockhaus Filmography:

THE POETESS by Stefanie Brockhaus and Andreas Wolff (2017, feature documentary, 89 min.)
Production companies: Brockhaus/Wolff, ZDF, ARTE, HFF

SOME THINGS ARE HARD TO TALK ABOUT (80min) by Stefanie Brockhaus (2017, feature documentary)
Production companies: Brockhaus/Wolff, WDR/ARTE

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE by Stefanie Brockhaus and Andreas Wolff (2010, feature doc., 86 min.)
Production companies: Brockhaus/Wolff, BR, HFF

THE CHILD WITHIN by Stefanie Brockhaus (2008, narrative short, 10min)

JAM by Stefanie Brockhaus (2003, documentary short, 10min)

Andreas Wolff Filmography:

THE POETESS by Stefanie Brockhaus and Andreas Wolff (see above)

THE CAPTAIN AND HIS PIRATE by Andreas Wolff (2013, feature documentary, 79 min.)
Produced by: Andreas Wolff
Production companies: Brockhaus/Wolff, Man's Films (Belgium), WDR, BR, HFF

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE by Stefanie Brockhaus and Andreas Wolff (see above)

Awards Won
THE POETESS (Stefanie Brockhaus and Andreas Wolff):
German Documentary Award, Norbert Daldrop Award 2018

THE CAPTAIN AND HIS PIRATE (Andreas Wolff):
German Camera Award 2014 (Best Editing)
Best Documentary, Zagreb International Film Festival 2013
Special Jury Award, Millenium Brussels International Film Festival 2013

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE (Stefanie Brockhaus and Andreas Wolff):
Best Film, Milan Film Festival 2010

World Sales:
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E-Mail: [email protected]
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Press:
Andreas Wolff Film
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E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: +49-177-7224485
Website: http://www.andywolff.com/