Culture, Love Never Stop in the City of Jasmine

The ongoing terrorist war on Syria has targeted all aspects of life in the country including culture, necessitating that all Syrians should be united hand in hand as to overcome difficulties and help the homeland surpass the crisis. Within this context, the Ministry of Culture on Thursday patronized a cultural festivity held by the National Social Association “Souriabtijmana” (Syria Brings US Together) in cooperation with the Damascus Opera House aiming to maintain cultural life in Syria and to support promising artists and filmmakers.

Talented young Syrian Director Almohannad Kalthoum’s short film “High Voltage” was screened and the crew of the film including the director himself as well as the Syrian veteran actor Adeeb Qaddoura and the writer of the script Samer Ismael were honored by “Souriabtejmana” voluntary group during the event which was attended by Renowned Syrian actor Dureid Lahham and Minister of Administrative Development Dr. Hassan al-Nouri.

 Several religious, artistic and media figures including archbishop Luqa al-Khouri, Syrian Diva Actress Sulaf Fawakherji and radio FM presenter and journalist Hiyam Hamwi were also honored.

“High Voltage” is the production of the General Establishment of Cinema and it had its first show presented in 2013 at cinema al-Kindi in Damascus. Last year the film won the Award of Honor in the Taharqa International Film Festival in Sudan.

Director Al-Mohannad Kalthoum has made tens of documentaries and short films which are full of noble human values, particularly love and patriotism.

Kalthoum’s film “High Voltage” depicts love under the crisis in Syria. The lovers; a young man working as a light technician in TV production companies and a young woman coming from the countryside to study the art of theater in Damascus, challenge the hard circumstances trying to find a space for their love and obtain some moments of happiness from within the pain and sadness caused by the war, where terrorists, backed by petrodollars, US and some Western states, came to Syria from more than 80 countries to perpetrate crimes against the Syrians.

Kalthoum told the “Syria Times” e-newspaper “the war on Syria has filled the Syrians’ life with tension, but that could never stop life or prevent love among people and this is the challenge I wanted to focus on in the film.”

“Our meeting today at this venue affirms two points; resistance and culture. We are here to defend our country and resist the ongoing war through our culture, and right outside, the Syrian Arab Army is resisting and fighting terrorism to protect Syria and the Syrian people’s dignity,” Kalthoum said.

Cinema is the memory which preserves the identity of people and through this memory we defend our culture and civilization, Kalthoum added, recalling a phrase said to him by late President Hafez Al-Assad that “you can defend your homeland by culture”.

About his being honored by “Souriabtejmana”, he said it was a good initiative aiming to support cultural life in the country. “Being honored as a filmmaker means a lot to me, because we are here trying to maintain and protect our culture against takfiri and narrow-minded mentality. We are being fought militarily, economically and culturally, and when we are honored, win a golden prize or get awards we are achieving victory for Syria,” the director said thanking “Souriabtejmana” for its efforts.

Cinema is civilization

Veteran Syrian actor Adeeb Qaddoura, on his part, said “the Syrian cinema has achieved plenty of successes over the past decades and this great cinema must continue under all circumstances, because the seventh art is one of the country’s elements of culture and civilization; the civilization which we must keep and protect, because peoples without civilization or culture are nothing.”

“There is a promising Syrian youth cinema which I respect and feel proud of. It is great to see young artists and filmmakers having ambitions to make a new cinema. The cinema now really needs those people and I am sure they will be the new generation which will hopefully help the Syrian cinema continue after it suffered some setbacks because of the crisis and the siege imposed on Syria,” Qaddoura added.

He hailed the efforts being exerted by the General establishment of Cinema to support talents, but stressed that the quantity of produced films was not enough to achieve the hoped-for development.

Rami al-Halabi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Souriabtejmana”, the organizer of the cultural festivity, said the four years old group has worked under the crisis in the relief and development fields to provide assistance to the displaced citizens and to the families of the martyrs and wounded people. “Almost, a year ago we started to direct our efforts to maintain the country’s cultural and artistic movement which was badly affected by the terrorist war on Syria, ” he added,

He clarified that within the available abilities and in partnership with government institutions and private sector concerned bodies, “we will be able, by the will of God, to continue doing our best as to support distinguished and talented artists which deserve to be famous and in the spotlight.”

“Syria is known of having presented quality art and of having produced creative filmmakers and artists over the past years. Today we are working with the Ministry of Culture and the Opera House to honor the Syrian cinema and national honest artists who choose to withstand the crisis and to stay in their homeland as to defend it,” al-Halabi said.

He pointed out that honoring the crew of Kalthoum’s film “High Voltage” is a big response to non-nationalistic stances adopted by some Syrian artists staying abroad against their homeland. The film stresses that the life, love and culture never stop in Damascus, the city of jasmine.

ST also interviewed several members of the audience to talk about their impressions.

Mrs. Mayyada Mohammad, who is working in the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry, came to attend the film for the second time because she loved the film that depicts how simple love ended tragically.

“Actually, I do not like tragic ends to love stories, but the simplicity of love in the film attracted me,” she added.

Mrs. Janset Qazan, a social activist working within a group called ‘Souria al-Khir’ , told us that she came to attend the film to encourage the young activities being held under the auspices of national groups such as “Souriabtejmana”.

 “Art could take part in confronting the ongoing war against Syria. It must shed light on the suffering of the Syrian people and show how they overcome the circumstances,” She said, indicating that the title of the film ‘High Voltage’ reflects the problem of electricity Syria is going through due to daily terror attacks on infrastructure.

However, Mr. Samer Ismael said that the purpose of the film written by him is to defend the simple people living in poor areas.

Diva actress Sulaf Fawakherji told us that she loved the high sensitivity in the film. “The idea of the film is very simple and it portrays how tension affects simple love.”

“The short film characters represent a segment of the Syrian society that strives for adventure and for achieving what it wants. I support such films,” she concluded.

Report by: Hamda Mustafa / Basma Qaddour/ Ibrahim Zaaboub