Docudrama Shot On Assateague To Air Next Week

BERLIN – A docudrama filmed on Assateague Island and in other parts of Maryland will premiere on PBS next Tuesday.

On Dec. 26, “The Sultan and the Saint,” a historical film that dramatizes the dialogues between St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan Muhammad Al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade, will air on national television.

Earlier last year, Baltimore-based Unity Productions Foundation began filming parts of the docudrama on the beaches of Assateague Island. Over the course of several days, filmmakers transformed the barrier island into the port city of Damietta, Egypt, where hundreds of locals were cast as clashing crusaders and Muslim armies.

“The Sultan and the Saint” tells the little-known story of St. Francis of Assisi and Egyptian Sultan Muhammad Al-Kamil, two men of different faiths who met on a bloody battlefield and found common ground. The film takes place in 1219 during the height of the crusades – a religious war between Muslims and Christians – and depicts the compassion of both St. Francis and Al-Kamil during an attack on Damietta, Egypt.

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