Sarkash

Runtime: 70'

Expected release: February 2026

Production stage: Rough cut

Budget: €325 000 (85% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, sales agents, distributors, gap financing, impact strategy guidance

Synopsis:

Defying the conservative forces in her community, Khatoon opened the first Women’s Sharia Court in Mumbai. Ever since, women come there to denounce violence and get justice, reversing the power dynamics in place.

Director’s Profile:

Sophie Schrago is a documentary filmmaker and anthropologist who draws on her experience living in different cultural settings to tell stories at the intersection of religion, race, ethnicity, and gender. After joining the programming team of the International Film Festival on Human Rights (FIFDH, Geneva) for several editions, she developed various short documentaries including Malcolm X and the Sudanese re-leased in February 2020 on the occasion of Black History Month in New York. She also worked as an assistant-director on the film A Thousand And One Berber Nights by Hisham Aïdi, which is being acquired by the Maroc 2M channel. Her work has been recognized by various bodies such as the Wenner-Gren Foundation, SCAM, the Women Make Movies as well as the Union Docs Center for Documentary Art. She is currently finishing her first feature documentary.

Producer’s Profile:

We created Hutong Productions in 2018. Our ambition is to produce unexplored narratives carried by daring artistic visions. Committed to giving visibility to a wide variety of cinematographic genres and directors from all countries, we produce short and feature-length films, fictions and documentaries, including many first films. Our films are released on TV and in theaters and screened at international festivals, in museums and on SVOD platforms. We act as majority producers (THE WATCHMAN – Black Nights Tallinn, ACTS OF LOVE – Hot Docs Toronto), co-producers (INTERCEPTED – Berlinale), or in the development phase (THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES – Cannes Un Certain Regard 2023, Best Director Award and Golden Eye for Best Documentary). We are members of the SPI, Eurodoc, Atelier Network, European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA) and Women Make movies networks.