This 1964 documentary by Walter Jacob looks at a market day in the city of Shibam in the Hadhramaut Region of Yemen. Shibam is known for its mudbrick-made high-rise buildings and is sometimes referred to as the “Manhattan of the Desert” or “Chicago of the Desert”. The city has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982.The film starts with a camel caravan entering the city for a market day followed by intense haggling at the market, a call to Muslim prayer, and the caravan leaving the city. Water remains a theme throughout the film with different shots of men and women getting water out of wells. The documentary captures stunning scenery of the cityscape of the “Manhattan of the Desert.”

0:07 A McGraw Hill Contemporary Film, 0:18 sand in a desert, 0:48 a quote from the Quran about water, 1:11 a sand beetle, 1:21 camels walking through the desert in a caravan, 2:33 men getting water out of a well, 2:47 “Shibam Stadt in Südarabien”, 3:10 a film by Walter Jacob, 3:29 the caravan arrives in Shibam, 4:04 an overview of the skyscrapers, 4:30 a man walking his donkey through the street, 4:47 camel caravan arrives at the market place, 5:40 people and their donkeys at wells, 6:34 women getting water out of the well, 7:08 wood being loaded off the camels backs, 7:21 construction workers building a building with mud, 7:39 an overview of the marketplace and close ups of the camels, 8:16 women returning from the wells, 8:47 men haggling at the market,10:26 men and women heading to prayer, 10:52 the Great Mosque in Shibam, 10:57 empty landscapes, 11:24 women carrying water, 11:33 men loading their camels, 12:05 men with their camels leave the marketplace, 12:41 a man with a traditional Hadhramaut Jambiya, 13.01 camel caravan leaves the city, 13:13 the empty market square, 13:51 sand being blown by the wind in front of Shibam.

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