Opening Night World Premiere SAND AND FIRE at 2019 Arpa IFF

Synopsis: SAND & FIRE (The impossible Dream!) tells the extraordinary story of DOMINGO BADIA, alias ALI BEY EL ABBASSI (born, 1767 Barcelona – died, 1818 Damascus) and that of LADY HESTER STANHOPE, otherwise known as MELEKI, QUEEN OF PALMYRA, ( born, 1776 Kent, England – died, 1839 Djîhoun, Syria). Set between 1802 and 1818, the plot of the film has resonance for today with searing realism as it depicts a moderate peaceful Islam confronting another which is fanatical and cruel. It is a true story about a Spanish army officer, Domingo Badia, who is sent to Morocco as an explorer by Prime Minister GODOY with a false identity of one, Ali Bey, son of the Emir of Damascus (assassinated by the Turks). He is, in fact, a secret agent with a mission to overthrow the Moroccan Sultan, Moulay Slimane, who trades wheat with the English for munitions destined to destabilize Andalusian Spain. Within this time period, a certain Richard Brothers (well known for his extremely detailed prediction of the beheading of King Louis XVI) revealed in a book that Lady Hester Stanhope, niece of the English Prime Minister, William Pitt, would be crowned Queen of Palmyra, the new Zenobia. Domingo Badia meets Lady Hester when he goes to London on a mission. It is the starting point of a passionate tumultuous love affair which endures for fourteen years before its tragic end; their love unable to sustain two irreconcilable visions of Islam. SAND & FIRE (The impossible Dream!) is an adventure film of fearless heroes and their thrilling exploits in keeping with the epic tradition. A film-goer, travelling with Ali Bey through Spain, France, England and Morocco, is transported to sumptuously decorated palaces in Madrid, Paris, London and Morocco of the early 19th century and with Lady Hester to the burning sands of Arabia and the ancient ruins of Palmyra. SAND & FIRE (The Impossible Dream) is a flight of fancy which emphasizes heroics, ambition, love, and tragedy – the film’s true protagonists. It also attracts our attention with its burning contemporary issues: war, barbarity, religious fanaticism, and the imposition of western values as a universal model.