May 17, 2026 4:22am PT

‘The Station’ Review: A Long-Gestating, Female-Centered Project Set in Yemen That’s Well Worth the Wait

A women-only haven in Yemen’s civil war is the backdrop to a story of sisters clashing over how to protect their young brother from conscription in this Cannes Critics' Week entry, beautifully played by a largely non-professional cast.

Jay Weissberg

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Jay Weissberg

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Courtesy of Screen Project, Georges Films

Sara Ishaq’s highly anticipated fiction debut “The Station” is the multi-layered feature we’ve been hoping would follow her impressive 2013 documentary “The Mulberry House.” Much has changed in Yemen — for the worse — over the past decade, and the country’s absence on screen apart from one-dimensional news reports puts extra pressure on any filmmaker looking to humanize its population. Ishaq is aware of this responsibility but not straitjacketed by a need to “explain”: Instead she’s made a film peopled with women and boys who go beyond simple archetypes, setting joyful female solidarity against omnipresent conflict in a way designed to communicate with a broad demographic.