Saving the Cultural Heritage of Yemen
"Saving the Cultural Heritage of Yemen" is a documentary in production that examines the international effort to save the threatened cultural heritage of Yemen. This project will tell this story through the perspectives of Yemeni citizens and international specialists working together on numerous endeavors in different areas of Yemen. These individuals are often risking their lives to protect and preserve ancient sites near the front lines of conflict.
"Saving the Cultural Heritage of Yemen" will examine this work in various cities in Yemen (Sana’a, Dhamar, Taiz, Zabid, Shibam, and Aden) on manuscript and artifact preservation, museum reconstruction, creating digital archives of objects, archaeological excavation, as well as identifying and recovering looted artifacts stolen during the war. "Saving the Cultural Heritage of Yemen" will also document and explain the historical and cultural significance of these artifacts.
The ongoing war has displaced over 2 million people and killed nearly 92,000. It has also done immeasurable damage to the country’s cultural heritage, the cultural identity of a people. The extraordinary cultural heritage of Yemen includes four UNESCO World Heritage sites, hundreds of archaeological sites, museums, and manuscript libraries, some containing the oldest Islamic writing ever discovered.
No documentary film has ever been made before about threatened cultural heritage in Yemen and this international effort to save it. "Saving the Cultural Heritage of Yemen" would be the first film to highlight this incredible heritage, educate audiences about its significance, and document the incredibly difficult process of saving culture.
"Saving the Cultural Heritage of Yemen" would further Professor Brent E. Huffman’s research into the work to save threatened sites started with his film "Saving Mes Aynak" (2016) which he directed, produced, shot, and edited for Netflix. The documentary is about the fight to save a 5,000-year-old ancient city in Afghanistan threatened by a Chinese government-owned copper mine. "Saving Mes Aynak" has won over 30 major awards and has been broadcast on television in over seventy countries.
The Filmmaker
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Brent E. Huffman
Director/Producer
Brent E. Huffman - Director/Producer
Brent E. Huffman is an award-winning director, producer, writer, and cinematographer of documentaries and television programs. His work ranges from documentaries aired on Netflix, VICE, The Discovery Channel, The National Geographic Channel, NBC, CNN, PBS, MTV, and Al Jazeera, to Sundance Film Festival premieres, to ethnographic films made for the China Exploration and Research Society.
He has also directed, produced, shot, and edited documentaries for online outlets like The New York Times, TIME, VICE NEWS, Salon, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, and PBS Arts.
Huffman has been making social issue documentaries and environmental films for over two decades in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. These films have gone on to win numerous awards including a Primetime Emmy, Chinese Academy Award, Silver Plaque from the Chicago International Film Festival, IAFOR Documentary Film Award, MacArthur Foundation Grant, Best Film at CinemAmbiente International Environmental Film Festival, Grand Prize and Audience Award at Arkhaios Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Festival, Best Conservation Film-Jackson Hole, ten Cine Golden Eagle Awards, and a Grand Jury Award at the American Film Institute’s SILVERDOCS.
Huffman was also an editor of Julia Reichert’s and Steven Bognar’s Primetime Emmy winning PBS documentary series "A Lion in the House” now on Netflix.
Huffman’s documentary "Saving Mes Aynak,” about the fight to save a 5,000-year-old ancient city in Afghanistan threatened by a Chinese copper mine, has won over 30 major awards and has been broadcast on television in over seventy countries. It can currently be seen on Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, OVID, and on special edition DVD from Icarus Films.
Huffman is currently directing “Strands of Resistance”, about minority groups fighting Chinese expansion in Pakistan for VICE NEWS TONIGHT, and "Saving the Cultural Heritage of Yemen".
Huffman recently finished producing “Finding Yingying”, an Emmy-nominated Kartemquin Film about a Chinese family searching for their missing daughter in the U.S. "Finding Yingying" won the Breakthrough Voice Award at SXSW and the Chinese Academy Award for Best Foreign Documentary in 2020. "Finding Yingying" is being distributed by CBS/Paramount+/MTV Films in the US.
“Saving the Cultural Heritage of Yemen” is Funded by
