I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced

Yemen

Producers: Benoît Jaubert, Dominique Janne, Sheikha Prohaska-Alatas

Production Company: Kaza Films, Hopoe Films

Project Logline:

Synopsis: Ten-year-old Nojoom was forced to marry a 30-year-old man. The dowry offered the family a small income and 'one less mouth to feed'. Nojoom discovers that her life will take a turn for the worse. Her husband is indifferent to her age. Every day after she is wedded, the child works under harsh conditions and every night, the child-bride is raped by a man 20 years older than her. A legitimate and acceptable arrangement for all, except for Nojoom.

Biography/Filmography: Khadija Al Salami gained her independence when her family forced her into marriage at the age of 11. In order to escape family pressure and tradition, she found a job at the local TV station in the afternoons, while pursuing her studies in the mornings. At 16, she earned a scholarship to the United States, where she studied filmmaking. Her first film, for her thesis, was about women in Yemen. Al Salami is Yemen’s first woman filmmaker. She has made more than 20 documentaries for TV stations in France and Yemen, and has received several awards at film festivals worldwide. Together with her husband, she wrote The Tears of Sheba, a book about her experiences growing up in Yemen. Currently she is Press Counselor and Director of the Communication and Cultural Center at the Embassy of Yemen in Paris.