The Syrian film “The First Day” by young director Lotus Massoud won the Best Short Film and Best Direction Awards at the Prague International Monthly Film Festival ( PIMFF).
“The First Day”, is the only Arab film that won awards at the PIMFF . It was produced by the Syrian General Establishment of Cinema within the framework of supporting youth cinema projects .
The film talks about the day the terrorist bombs stopped falling on Damascus on May 22, 2018, following the purification of the Damascus countryside from terrorists.It also sheds light on the Syrian people’s daily fear and suffering for several years due to these bombs which targeted a number of innocent civilians.
In a statement to SANA, the filmmaker Lotus said: “This award, which comes as the culmination of my first directorial experience, gave me great motivation and a deep belief that it was not a risk, but a correct and brave step for me and the film team who believed in the film and wanted to embody part of what the Syrian people subjected to through the harsh years of war”.
She expressed her happiness that a Syrian film wins two awards and competes with foreign films from all countries of the world.
“This award gave me enthusiasm to go into new experiences in which both writing and directing are combined,” Lotus expressed..
She stressed the key role of cinema to convey Syrians’ voices to the world and express their psychological and social suffering as a result of the nine-year war.
The film is starring Loris Kazak, Iyad Issa, Amina Abbas, Hassan Khalil and Aya Mahmoud as well as other characters.
Rawaa Ghanam