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EYEWEAR NOVEL OPTIONED FOR FILM


MS SUMIA SUKKAR

For Immediate Release


B7 Media secures film and television rights


to Sumia Sukkar’s acclaimed novel of Syrian conflict


 
The Boy from Aleppo Who Painted the War follows B7 Media’s successful BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of a modern literary masterpiece

 
London, 6 July 2015:  The film and television rights to The Boy from Aleppo Who Painted the War, the debut novel by Sumia Sukkar set during the outbreak of the Syrian conflict, have been acquired by B7 Media.
 

Independent production and distribution company B7 Media has announced it has acquired an option to develop a motion picture or television serial based on Sumia Sukkar’s acclaimed debut novel of the Syrian conflict, The Boy from Aleppo Who Painted the War.
 
Following B7’s critically acclaimed radio dramatisation of the novel for BBC Radio 4 in 2014, featuring Farshid Rokey, this new film adaptation will look to explore this powerful and intimate drama in a widescreen setting. Simon Moorhead (Mirrormask, Luna) and Andrew Mark Sewell (Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, Exit Thread) will produce.

Published by Eyewear, London, the novel was an immediate critical success on publication. The story gained a whole new audience when B7 Media adapted it into a successful Saturday Drama for BBC Radio 4, directed by Fiona McAlpine, produced by Andrew Mark Sewell and Patrick Chapman and dramatised for radio by Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle. Farshid Rokey, Noof Ousellam and Jalleh Alizadeh led an outstanding young cast in this moving realisation of a heartrending story.
 

About The Boy from Aleppo Who Painted the War

 
Adam is a 14-year-old boy with Asperger Syndrome, who attempts to understand the Syrian conflict and its effect on his life and family by painting his feelings.  Yasmine, his devoted older sister, has to cope with her own traumas when government soldiers abduct and torture her. His older brothers face the dilemma – on whether or not to take sides and the consequences of their eventual choices have repercussions for the entire family. 



The Boy From Aleppo Who Painted The War is the powerful and deeply moving debut novel from Sumia Sukkar.  It chronicles the intimate sufferings of a family in the midst of civil war – with uncommon compassion, wit and imaginative force.  Told mainly from Adam’s perspective, this gripping story achieves the timeless dignity of a true report from an unpredictable and frightening place. How do we preserve love and beauty in brutal times? What does a major conflict do to the fabric of a family? How does one challenged young man survive when his world falls apart?


Producer, Andrew Mark Sewell says of the project: “The immediacy and impact of this drama bear witness to the horror of war, and the triumph of the human spirit over almost unbearable adversity. When our development producer, Patrick Chapman, first brought Sumia’s novel to my attention, I was struck by the intimate and powerful voice Sumia brought to the story.”


Written when she was a mere 21-years-old, Sumia Sukkar is the youngest female British Muslim to have had a novel published in the UK: “Writing my timely novel was a way for me to express my grief towards the tragedies of what's happening in my country. Readers will find it interesting to experience the traumatising events of war through the eyes of an innocent young autistic boy who has lived his whole life completely dependant on his family and then having to be separated from them.  It contains a blend of political events, emotional drive and Arabian tradition.”

 

About B7 Media

 
B7 Media is an independent production company that has an extensive track record in film, television, radio and theatre. Notable credits include Haunted for UKTV (shortlisted for the Montreux e-Rose); the acclaimed motion picture Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont starring Joan Plowright, Anna Massey and Rupert Friend; and Tim Arnold’s Sonnet 155, staged at the Almeida Theatre featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, Hattie Morahan, Paul McGann, Lisa Dillon and Richard Briers (in his last stage appearance).

Recently completed projects include two independent features by Canadian director Paul Kimball, The Cuckoo in the Clock, featuring Jacob James; and Roundabout, featuring Annie Briggs. Both films premiered at last year’s Atlantic Film Festival. B7’s latest collaboration with Kimball, Exit Thread, is currently shooting in Nova Scotia.

In the realm of radio drama its reputation for creating dramatic, widescreen audio worlds that sound lived-in, real and cinematic, was demonstrated to epic effect in its recent BBC Radio 4 adaptations of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (a Silver award winner for Best Drama Special in the prestigious 2015 New York Festivals International Radio Program Awards); and Sumia Sukkar’s The Boy from Aleppo Who Painted the War. B7 is also known for the epic audio reboot of cult TV classic Blake’s 7, featuring Derek Riddell, Colin Salmon and Daniela Nardini (for BBC Radio 4 Extra).

Press Contact


Patrick Chapman | Development Executive

B7 Productions Ltd | Station Court | High Road | Cookham | Berkshire | SL6 9JF

e: patrick@b7media.com | w: www.b7media.com | Twitter: @B7Media

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