Syrian Cinema in 2014
Despite the crisis in Syria, the General Establishment of Cinema managed in 2014 to produce distinguished short and long films and to break the unjustified siege imposed on the participation of Syrian films in Arab and international festivals.
Challenging the extraordinary circumstances in the country, Syrian film directors have achieved important works many of which have got international awards.
In the domain of long films, director Joud Saeed completed his movie “Homs Rain” by scenarist Suha Mustafa depicting life in the Syrian city of Homs under the crisis. He earlier achieved another movie titled “Waiting for Autumn” picturing simple people’s troubles and dreams.
Prominent director Basel al-Kahtieb, after the success of his film “Mariam” in 2012, continued working in 2014 to achieve the second part of his project about Syrian women at war time. His movie “The Mother” has recently had its first show opened at the Cinema City in Damascus with huge turn out by the fans of the seventh art. The third part of his project is represented by his film “Ahlul Shams” which is almost completed. In the three films, al-Kahtieb depicts war and the life of people, particularly women, under the crisis in Syria and stresses the Syrians’ strong will to face the aggression.
Worthy to mention is that al-Khatieb’s “Mariam” movie has got seven successive awards including two in the Chinese Silk Road Festival.
Moreover, the cinema establishment produced films by director Mohammad Abdul Aziz such as “The Violet Fires” and “It is 04:00 at Fardous Meantime”. The shows of the two films will be opened in February, 2015 at the Opera House in Damascus within the framework of a special festival dedicated to the establishment’s production of long and short films.
On its 50th foundation Anniversary, the establishment held several important activities and festivals, the most notable of which was the first festival of Youth Cinema and Short Films festival held between June 16th and 21st, 2014 at the Drama Theatre of Al-Assad House for Culture and Arts. The event aimed at celebrating youths’ experiences and supporting their works.
The cinema establishment also supported short films in 2014 by producing many works, including “High Tension” by director al-Muhannad Kalthoum, “Smile You are Dying” by Wasim Assayed, “The Man Who Make a Film” by Ahmad Ibrahim al-Ahmad, and “Masoud’s Banquet” by Waddah al-Fahd. These films provided different views on the crisis in Syria and contributed to restoring the brightness of short Syrian films which used to introduce promising directors and writers.
Director Abdul Lateef Abdul Hameed has recently started preparations to film his new movie “Love at War Time” which is his own writing. The film depicts a love story the events of which took place in Damascus and Tartous. Earlier, Abdul Lateef achieved his long film “the Lover” which is expected to be on show very soon within the Long Film Festival.
The Syrian Arab army was the topic of a long documentary produced by the establishment in 2014 by director Nidal Douhaji in cooperation with director Mohammad Abdul Aziz titled “Humat Addiyar” (Protectors of the Homeland) depicting the victories of the Syrian army in October war and its confrontation of the Israeli enemy.
The Cinema establishment was also able during 2014 to organize an important cinema event called “Modern Films from World Cinema”, which was organized in two parts at Al-Assad House for Culture and Arts. More than 140 award-winning films were screened, including the Oscar-winning film “Twenty Years of Slavery”.
Rawaa Ghanam