Open Discussion:
Syrian Filmmaking in Transition
DOCUMENTARIST 2014
Salt Galata
June 8, 2014 13.00
Still from the film True Story of Love, Life, Death and Sometimes Revolution (2012) by Nidal Hassan
SALT Galata, Workshop II-III
Participants: Ziad Kalthoum (director), Nidal Hassan (director) and Khaled Abdulwahed (director)
Moderator: Omar Berakdar (Hamisch Syrian Cultural House)
The beginning of the Syrian revolution in 2011 also unleashed a cinematic revolution, with an explosion in the number of independent Syrian films produced. The quality of this production has also attracted attention, with Syrian films being featured in Cannes and Sundance this year. The discussion will hinge around the reasons for this creative renewal by charting the challenges faced by Syrian filmmakers since the beginnings of the cinema in Syria and particularly during the despotic rule of Hafez el Assad and his son Bashar. Filmmakers were subject to restrictions and wide-ranging taboos, so the only possible production was that which colluded with the regime by avoiding core issues. In the years preceding the revolution, however, independent filmmakers were already developing strategies to cope in this claustrophobic environment in order to highlight the dystopian nature of Syrian society, but their films were banned. The discussion will also focus on the new challenges faced by directors in today’s uncertain context, and how this affects their cinematic choices.
Consecutive translation between Arabic and Turkish.
