“The New Releases in World Cinema Festival” Kicks off at Damascus Opera House
DAMASCUS- New films of world companies’ production are to be screened for the first time in Syria. The shows come within the framework of “The New Releases in World Cinema Festival” which is due to be kicked off today evening at the Damascus Opera House under the patronage of the Minister of Culture Lubana Mushaweh.
The event, which is organized by the General Establishment for Cinema in cooperation with the General Commission of Dar al-Assad for Culture and Arts “Opera House “, will last until March 27th, 2014. 75 movies, including award winning films and some works nominated for the Oscar of this year, are to be screened.
A movie called “The Words”, a mystery romantic drama film written and directed by Brian Klugman and Lee Strenthal, will be the premier in the festival. It stars Bradley Cooper, Zeo Saldana and Olivia Wild.
Among other films, “The Great Gatsby”, “Alex Cross”, “Star Trek: into Darkness”, “Man of steel”, “After Earth” “The Paperboy”, “Gravity”, “The Ice Man”, “Promised Land”, “Sinister”, “Stranger at Home”, “The Expatriate” and “The East” will also be on show at different cinema houses in Damascus and other Syrian cities during the festival days.
According to Director of the General Establishment for Cinema Mohammad al-Ahmad, “The New Releases in World Cinema Festival” will compensate for the absence of “Damascus Film Festival” which stopped after the eruption of the crisis in Syria.
“The aim is to provide cinema fans in Syria with up-to-date film productions,” al-Ahmad added in a recently held press conference.
He pointed out that despite the boycott of some cinema companies to the establishment, “we managed to get a great opportunity to screen most important international films”.
Al-Ahmad clarified that since the stopping of “Damascus International Film”, the establishment has been keen to hold a cinema event every two months.
H. Mustafa