The scream Yemeni women make their voices heard

The film shows Rahma fearlessly contacting senior officials to denounce the use of prohibited weapons by security forces against protesters.

Balqis, meanwhile, breaks the conservative tradition that women do not visit coffee shops and is seen sitting at a cafeteria, boldly discussing gender equality with the men.

And Huda the poet is seen climbing atop the podium at the camp, which became known as Change Square, and making fiery speeches to encourage demonstrators.

The women, who insist on being part of the uprising, refuse to put up their own tents away from those of the men, and they soon begin facing problems in Yemen's ultra-conservative and deeply tribal community.

“Women took to the streets alongside men but they were beaten and harassed by so-called revolutionaries,” said Salami. “How can a man be rebelling against a regime while oppressing his (female) partner?”

Her film also shows women being treated with contempt by the companions of a prominent religious figure, as Saleh himself in his speeches criticised the mixing of the sexes among opposition ranks.

As it nears its end, “The Scream” portrays the disappointment of women as they realize that the uprising has failed to improve their status within Yemeni society.

But “now women do not fear anybody. They have a voice and they will continue the struggle to achieve their rights,” said Salami. However she concedes that it will be “a long fight.”

In Paris Salami also filmed prominent Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman after she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her influential role during the uprising.

Salami is already working on a new film that tells the stories of girls who have been forced to marry older men, an ancient traditional practice in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country which she condemns as “organized rape.”

The 46-year-old Salami was herself forced by her family to marry a 20-year-old man when she was only 11.

“I felt I was abused. I had two choices -- either I end my own life or rebel against society,” she said. “I chose the latter and got a divorce, but only after much difficulty.”

She believes her salvation came through education. She won a scholarship to continue her schooling in the United States and later became director of the Paris-based Centre for Communication and Culture of Yemen.

In 2006, Salami published, with Charles Hoots, her book “Tears of Sheba. Tales of Survival and Intrigue in Arabia.”

Its title, she said, is to “remind people that women had ruled Yemen” during the country’s ancient past.