52 films from 21 countries within the Citadel Festival for Student Films

The Technical Institute of Applied Arts in Damascus Citadel has hosted recently the opening of the Citadel Student Film Festival in its second session, in cooperation with the National Film Organization .

The Citadel Student Film Festival, which will continue until the 15th of this month, constitutes an important opportunity for Syrian youth, who are studying cinema, and amateurs to present their films  and benefit from the experiences of others.

40 Arab and foreign films from 21 countries will be shown at the festival, in addition to 12 Syrian films distributed between the productions of the Technical Institute of Applied Arts and the Youth Cinema Support Project sponsored by the National Film Organization.

 The opening ceremony of the festival included a musical performance by a number of students of the Higher Institute of Music, conducted by musician Osama Abu Sa’ada, after which the Spanish film entitled Al-Barzakhwas shown.

The first day’s screenings included a number of films from Syria, Spain, France,  Brazil, and Iran.

Director of the Institute of Applied Arts Ghandi  Kheder said  that the idea of the festival came to encourage students , who are interested in the field  of filming,to develop their talent , introduce   different  experiences through the works participating in the festival in addition to motivate them and create a competitive situation among each other.

In turn, Murad Shaheen, Director of the GeneralEstablishment of Cinema , pointed out that the seventh art is the most widespread among people and communication between peoples to form a  comprehensive knowledge about other societies .

He stressed  that cinema in Syria reflected to the world the originality of the Syrian people, their customs, traditions, heritage and civilization.

Tariq Al-Sawah, Head of the television photography department at the institute and the secretary of the festival, explained in a statement to SANA that a specialized committee has been formed to select the best films that have applied for participation, pointing out that the festival introduces other countries’ techniques in directing to students to develop their abilities.

He added  6 films will be shown daily in two periods throughout 5 days at the end of which prizes will be distributed to the winners.

In turn, Hussam Wahb, the technical director of the festival, noted that this edition of the festival is characterized by increasing the number of films, participating countries and improving the quality of films produced within the institute, where 92 foreign films were submitted for participation, and 12 Syrian films were submitted to the festival.

For her part , Hiba Hawa, the teacher at the institute and the director of a film entitled “ the Seasons” talked about her cooperation with a number of students to make this film and described this experience as rich because it consolidates the students’ experiences and talents.

Nour Al-Hafiz, an English literature graduate, has translated the foreign films participating from English into Arabic in the two editions of the festival, indicating that the experience was useful for her because the short films carry a lot of intellectual values and fun.

Rawaa Ghanam