Abdulmohsen Al-Mutairi’s movie “Memories from the North” deals with how we cultivate our collective and personal memories as it highlights the personal memory and childhood experiences of the Saudis who lived through the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait three decades ago.
The documentary gives us an in-depth view of how the experiences of those who had been on the outside looking in, not directly involved in what happened but were impacted by it in one way or another as the flames fanned further than their eyes could see.
Starring several people who thought they had overcome the emotional damage left by this experience, only to come to grips with how what happened affected them over the past three decades.
Al-Mutairi tells Asharq Al-Awsat: “The experiences of those who appear in the movie are shared across the Gulf, who had undergone this unprecedented historical episode that left an impact on an entire generation. The movie showcases how they lived in detail and includes many beautiful and poignant images.”
“The Gulf has a trove of ancient tales, folk legends, and oral narratives passed from generation to generation that are worth sharing with the world and reflecting how we see things, our culture, and our relationship, as people of the rich Arabian Peninsula, with our history.”
The Saudi production was screened in Kuwait on Tuesday on the anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait that began on August 2, 1990, after winning the Best Documentary Short Film Award at the 2022 Saudi Film Festival and an Honorable Mention at the London International Monthly Film Festival.
