Watermelon Pictures Takes North American Rights to Sara Ishaq's 'The Station'
Watermelon Pictures Takes North American Rights to Sara Ishaq's The Station
Watermelon Pictures has acquired North American distribution rights to The Station, the debut narrative feature by Yemeni-Scottish filmmaker Sara Ishaq. The company plans to release the film in cinemas in the United States and Canada later in 2026. Deadline reported the deal as an exclusive on 21 October 2026.
Distribution rights mean the buyer sells tickets, books cinemas and runs the film's release in that territory. The film's owners keep the rest of the world, which is sold separately.
The Station had its premiere in Critics' Week, a section of the Cannes Film Festival that showcases first and second features, in 2026. Paradise City Sales handled sales on the film, and in May Variety reported that the sales company had provided an exclusive clip ahead of the Cannes premiere.
The story is set in Yemen, a country that has been torn apart by war. Layal runs a petrol station (a gas station, in American English) staffed only by women. When her younger brother faces forced enlistment into the military, she reunites with her estranged sister to try to save him. Manal Al-Mulaiki, Abeer Mohammed, Rashad Khaled and Saleh Al-Marshahi star.
The film was produced by Screen Project and Georges Films. One Two Films, KeplerFilm, Barentsfilm, Setara Films, The Imaginarium Films and ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel, together with ARTE, came on as co-producers. Jon Kilik, whose credits include Babel, is executive producer.
Ishaq said in a statement that she could think of no better team than Watermelon Pictures to trust with the film in the US. She also said that Yemen is often shown in a negative light in American headlines, and that she hoped the film would offer a different view.
Ishaq's earlier work includes Karama Has No Walls (2012), a short documentary she made while studying for an MFA in Film Directing. The Station is her first narrative feature, meaning a fictional film told with actors rather than a documentary.
For anyone who follows festivals, the path is worth noticing. The film went from a Cannes sidebar to a North American distributor in the months that followed. Many films take that same route, with a sales company selling territories one by one until a local partner takes the film to cinemas. Watermelon Pictures' plan puts The Station on American screens, with the release date still to come.
