Film Constellation Takes World Sales on ‘Yomeddine’ Director Abu Bakr Shawky’s New Saudi-Set ‘Hajjan’ Ahead of Toronto Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent London and Paris-based Film Constellation has taken international sales on Egyptian director Abu Bakr Shawky’s hotly anticipated Saudi-set travel movie “Hajjan,” ahead of its Toronto Film Festival world premiere. “Hajjan,” which will launch from Toronto’s Discovery section, is a followup to Shawky’s first feature “Yomeddine,” which had the rare distinction of making the competition cut for Cannes.

Somewhat similarly to “Yomeddine” – which involved the desert voyage of a leper, a donkey, and a child – “Hajjan” also involves a journey across the desert, this time embarked upon by a young orphan boy and his beloved camel.

The big-budget film, which was shot mostly in the sprawling area situated along Saudi’s Red Sea coast in Tabuk, in the northwest of the kingdom, is about a young boy named Matar who, after the death of his brother on the camel race track, tries to avenge his death.

To do so he becomes a camel jockey, only to find himself entangled in a battle for his own freedom. Saudi newcomer Omar Alatawi plays the lead in a cast comprising veteran Saudi actors Abdelmohsen Al-Nemer (“From A to B,” “Route 10”), Ibrahim Al-Hsawi (“Scales,” “Zero Distance”) and Alshaimaa Tayeb (“Valley Road”) among others. “Hajjan” is produced by the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, known as Ithra, and Egypt’s Mohamed Hefzy via his Film Clinic shingle, and co-produced by Jordan’s Rula Nasser (“Inshallah a Boy,” “Holy Spider”) through her The Imaginarium Films.