PROTAGONISTS
Member of the Royal family and chief of Saudi intelligence in 1979
Saudi Artist and Teacher whose grandfather was in the mosque
Historian and anthropologist at Boston University
CONTACTS
Creating this film has taken 5 years of tireless work by many
talented people in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, Egypt, USA, UK, France and Germany. While some prefer to remain unknown, here are the ones we can proudly call by name:
The producers wish to express their special gratitude to
HIS EXCELLENCY DR. AWWAD AL ALAWWAD, SAMI ANGAWI, AWAD AL BADI, FRANK BÖSCH, FALEH AL DHAHRI, SAMAR FATANY, HERBERT GEHR, QASWRA HAFEZ, PATRICIA HAMBLEY, WOLFGANG LORENZ, KHALED AL MOTTAIN, MUHAMMAD AL MUZAYNI, MICHAEL OHNMACHT, FLORIAN PEIL, SOWEYAN SAAD, BASMA BINT SAUD, ANDREAS SCHARDT and FRANZISKA SCHIRMER
Thank you to
JULIE BERTUCCELLI, HÉLÈNE BOISSON, BASILE BORKENHAGEN, KARIM DAGHBOUCHE, JEAN-LOUIS ESQUIVIE, HERBERT GEHR, FRÉDÉRIC D'HAUTHUILLE, JOSEPH A. KECHICHIAN, ROBERT LACEY, SOPHIE LECHEVALIER, DAVID W. LESCH, SUHA MAAYEH, AHMED MATER, THING NGUYEN, DIDIER PECHEUR, PIERRE PRIER, LUC RONAT, ANTIONE SANTANA, GUIDO STEINBERG and JIHAN TAHRI
and to
ROXANA NADIM - LUDMILLA AND SYRINE VERROUST
STORY
On November 20th 1979, at 05:30 in the morning, hundreds of heavily armed men take over the Grand Mosque of Mecca and transform the holiest shrine of Islam into a fortress. The ensuing 15 days of occupation, siege and battle would cost hundreds if not thousands of lives, shake Saudi Arabia to its foundations and push the global balance of power to the brink of collapse.
Director Dirk van den Berg and his international team obtained exclusive access to first-hand accounts and never-before-seen private archives from Arab, French and American military, intelligence and civilian sources. In his film, protagonists from all sides narrate the harrowing days of November 1979. Their testimonies reveal the intricate links between one of the most sinister events of recent history, and the birth of the violent strain of militant Islamism that holds the world firmly in its grip ever since.
THE SIEGE OF MECCA is a gripping political thriller that tears the veils of history from an event that many today consider as the beginning of religiously motivated Islamist terrorism.
A FILM BY DIRK VAN DEN BERG
THE SIEGE OF MECCA
Written and directed by
DIRK VAN DEN BERG
Produced by
PASCAL VERROUST
K2 Productions, Paris
and
DIRK VAN DEN BERG
OutreMer Film, Berlin
Camera
HENRIK SAUER bvk
JULIA LOHMANN
AHMED FOUAD
OLIVIA FURTWÄNGLER
Sound Recordist
MATHIEU DESCAMPS
Editor
ANNE RIEGEL
Commissioning Editors
MARK EDWARDS - ARTE France
BARBARA BIEMANN - NDR Germany
CHRISTIANE HINZ - WDR Germany
RENÉ ALTHAMMER - RBB Germany
ESTHER SCHAPIRA - HR Germany
CHRISTOPH GUGGENBERGER - ORF Austria
Produced with the support of
ANNE GÈNEVAUX, Associate Producer INA
FFHSH Filmförderung Hamburg-Schleswig-Holstein
PROCIREP - Société des Producteurs
The Regional Council of Ile-de-France, together with the CNC
RTS Radio Télévision Suisse - IRÈNE CHALLAND
& GASPARD LAMUNIÈRE
Special Production Consultant
CHRISTINE REISEN
World Sales
TOM KOCH & GERMAINE DEAGAN, PBS DISTRIBUTION
Associate Producer Saudi Arabia - TAREQ ALDAKHILALLAH
Service Producer Saudi Arabia - MOHAMMED SENDI
DIT, Production Assistant Saudi Arabia - KHALED ALDAKHILALLAH
Field Producer Jordan - IHAB MUHTASEB
Production Manager France - NICO DI BIASE
Production Assistant France - SIHAM BEL
Administrators - OUMAR SAKHO, SAMUEL ATTIA, MARGITTA HEINECKE
Additional Camera USA - SINJUN BALABANOFF
Additional Sound Recordists - GAUTIER ISEM, JÖRG KRIEGER
Post Production Technical supervisor - LAURENT LINDEBRINGS
Sound design and mix - DELPHINE THELLIEZ
Color Correction - CHRISTOPHE GAUTHIER
Video Supervisor - FLORIAN BARRAL
Post Production Supervision Arte Germany - PETER GOTTSCHALK
German Version - RALPH SIEKAU
Research - JULIA CLAUSS, SIMONE SCHELK, CLARY MONAQUE
Translations - OHOUD ALADANI, IMEN BOUALI, RANA DIAB, OUSSAMA KHALBOUSS
Editing Trainees - GEOFFREY DINE, MARGAUX NUSSBAUMER
FILMMAKERS
TEASER
STORY
PROTAGONISTS
TEAM
CONT@CT