Blogit - syyria

Syyrialaisten elokuvaihmisten vetoomus

Iikka Vehkalahti — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:53:19 +0000

Syyrialaiset elokuvantekijät,mukana mestarityötä tehnyt Mohammed Malas, vetoavat kansainvälisen yhteisöön maan tapahtumien johdosta. Ohessa syyrialaisten vetoomus ja osoite, jossa tekstin voi allekirjoittaa.

Peaceful Syrian citizens are being killed today for their demands of basic rights and liberties.   It is the same oppression and corruption that kept Syrians prisoners and swallowed their freedom, properties and lives for decades, that is assassinating their bodies and dreams today.   We, the undersigned Syrian filmmakers, believe that a reform which does not start with putting an end to security forces control over our people's lives and bodies, and with closing an era of shameful political imprisonment for good, is not enough.   Hereby, we call on all filmmakers in the world to contribute to stopping the killing by exposing and denouncing it, and by announcing their solidarity with the Syrian people and with their dreams of justice, equality and freedom.

There is a petition that can be signed by you as well, go to

http://www.petitiononline.com/SYRFILM1/petition.html

Lainaus

Terveisiä Syyriasta

Tue Steen Müller — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:20:02 +0000

Second edition. Second time that Damascus has an international documentary film festival. The programme is enlarged, there is an industry section, sidebar retrospectives, it is all there. Impressive it is to be back.

Full house at the opening film, "China is still Far" by Malek Bensmaïl, shot in Algeria and dealing with the question of what it means to be Algerian. Let me give the floor to the director: " A school somewhere in the Aurés. Between the North and the South. Between an oasis and the steppe.I decided to set up my camera in a classroom of the last form of a primary school for a few months so that I could seize, through the look of the children as well as through that of their teachers and families, what has been passed on in an Algerian school, 50 years after the independence..."
It is beautifully shot, the children and their teachers are great, there are some very touching and funny moments between them, other sequences do not have the same focus and intensity, is felt to be a bit too long, but a very relevant choice for the opening of the festival.

http://www.dox-box.org/

One Man Village is one of those minimalistic films that subject-wise has been seen so many times: Man lives alone outside the cities, big house, animals – cows, chicken, horses, cats and dogs – he has retired from the noisy world full of pollution and he has a fine life. A bit excentric, yes, but clever and sweet to the filmmaker, his nephew, the Lebanese film director Simon El Habre, who masters a narrative full of warmth and surprises with the behind the camera nephew getting closer and closer to his uncle and his story.

And why are you not married, have you ever been in love, what happened to your parents... questions are asked, the uncle demonstrates his passion for the animals, gets into his old, rusty car to go downhill with the milk, and slowly we understand that the village is emptied because of what happened in the civil war in Lebanon between 1975 and 1990. The film has an extraordinary sound design and you are not bored for a moment. It was in Berlin, it goes to Nyon and Hotdocs, well-deserved. Tell your local festival to screen it.

Here in Damascus the audience enjoyed the film with big applause. What an uncle to have! Charismatic, energetic, with a smile in his eyes all the time, a happy man.

http://www.dox-box.org/

Lainaus

Dokumentteja Syyriassa

Tue Steen Müller — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:51:14 +0000

DOXBOX 09 is the scond edition of the documentary festival in Damascus, Tartous and Homs in Syria.

I dont have the programme schedule yet but have seen the list of films and guests who will be there. It demonstrates that the organisers, filmmakers Diana el Jeroudi and Orwa Nyrabia have made a big effort to enlarge the cinema programme. It includes a very impressive list of films to be offered to the Syrian audience is. More than 40 films where half of them are new for me... who watch quite a lot as loyal readers have discovered.

There is an official selection with an audience award. Let me mention 3 known titles (”Family” by Sami Saïf and Phie Ambro, ”From Father to Son” by Visa Koiso-Kanntila and ”Mosquito Problems and other Stories” by Andrey Paounov) and 3 I am looking forward to watch (”China is Still Far” by Malek Bensmail, ”One Man Village” by Simon el Habre and ”Six Ordinary Stories” by Meyar Alroumi). There is a series called ”Voices of Women” with films – among others – by Kim Longinotto, Eva Mulvad and Alina Mazzarati. There is 3 films by Nicholas Philibert in the ”Meet the Master” category.

There is a series of ”Notes on War” with films by PeÅ Holmquist, Werner Herzog – among others. And ”Best of Fest” introduces ”The English Surgeon”, ”The Mother” and ”René”. What a fest to expect. Photo: Burma vj by Anders Østergaard, closing film in Damascus.

English Surgeon

Plus several industry arrangements, including one where Mikael Opstrup, EDN chair and producer and I are doing a writing workshop for 12 filmmakers.

http://www.dox-box.org/

Lainaus