nwFilmCenter

Lens on Syria: The Road to Damascus

Arab Cinema rarely reaches American audiences, particularly that of Syria's. Organized by ArteEast, Lens on Syria is the first North American retrospective of a stellar period of Syrian cinema-from the 1970s through today- and is a particularly timely and relevant program in the context of contemporary Middle East tensions. "With an annual production never exceeding more than one or two feature films a year, many filmmakers are forced to wait years between projects; consequently, filmmakers are intensely aware that each film, each shot, really has to count. Working under what can only be described as very difficult conditions-ranging from the watchful eyes of the censors to the lack of a real industrial infrastructure for film production-Syrian filmmakers have nevertheless managed to create a powerful and provocative cinema, with films brimming with both personal expression as well as perceptive social analysis that are often startling in their courage and commitment."- Richard Peña, Program Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center

Fri, Sep 15, 2006 at 7 PM Sat, Sep 16, 2006 at 9 PM	THE DUPED (AL-MAKHDU'UN) DIRECTOR: TEWFIK SALEH SYRIA Tewfik Saleh, adapting Palestinian author Ghassan Khanafani's 1962 novella "Men in the Sun" creates a dense interweaving of past and present, fiction and documentary in this harsh condemnation of the treatment of diaspora Palestinians by their fellow Arabs. This spare black-and-white film is set in 1958; three Palestinians in Basra, Iraq, decide to travel to Kuwait, each believing he can make a new life for himself there. The men, from different generations, represent different perspectives on the Palestinian experience; after tracing each man's story, the film moves the action to the moment when all three are attempting to sneak across a border hidden in the steel tank of a truck. ( 107 min ) ^ Top
Sat, Sep 16, 2006 at 6:30 PM Sun, Sep 17, 2006 at 7 PM	DREAMS OF THE CITY (AHLAM AL-MADINA) DIRECTOR: MOHAMMAD MALAS SYRIA Partially autobiographical, Malas' film marked not only the emergence of a kind of "auteur" cinema in Syria but also a new, unsentimental and at times critical look at the lives of the middle classes. A young widow and her two sons are forced to move from their native Quneytra to Damascus, where her brutish father offers little emotional or financial support, forcing all of them to fend for themselves. Against the backdrop of successive military coups that punctuated the turbulent 50s in Syria, Adib, the eldest of the two boys, comes of age in the overwhelming urban magic of Damascus. Images of mosques, the faces of strangers and the greenery that embroiders Damascus swirl by as Adib witnesses each dizzying and violent day in the city. A multiple award-winner that truly put Syria on the map of international cinema. ( 120 min ) ^ Top
Wed, Sep 20, 2006 at 8:30 PM Sat, Sep 23, 2006 at 6 PM	THE NIGHT (AL-LEYL) DIRECTOR: MOHAMMAD MALAS SYRIA The story of the troubled beginnings of a family as well as a nation, THE NIGHT is set in the village of Quneytra, a border town on the Golan and a key battleground during the 1967 war. A young man and his mother visit the grave of a man who once fought for Palestine. His son, the director of the film, then reconstructs the story of this man, who joined the volunteer armies during the "Arab Revolt" of 1936. Stories diverge as to what happened when his father returned to Quneytra: some said he locked himself in the mosque and went mad; others that he spoke out too openly against the government and was silenced. Trying to overcome feelings of shame and humiliation that have long accompanied the image of his father, Malas tries to discover his father's true history and give him a more honorable death. But exploring the past here raises burning questions that only have bitter answers. ( 115 min ) ^ Top
Thu, Sep 21, 2006 at 7 PM Sat, Sep 23, 2006 at 4 PM	STARS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT (NUJUM AL-NAHAR) DIRECTOR: OUSSAMA MOHAMMAD SYRIA A double wedding in a small village turns to high drama when one bride runs away, the other refuses to go on with her marriage, and the fragile balance holding a family together is upset when the eldest son supplants the abusive father. The new family patriarch's troubles are exacerbated by his complex relations with his brothers, one a pathologically enraged "second" son, and the other struggling with a loss of hearing caused by a violent blow administered by their father when he was just a child. Although ultimately tragic, the film is rife with searing humor and sharp political critique as it exposes the violence of arbitrary and absolute power in a patriarchal society. "Funny, violent, and blunt ... perhaps the greatest film to come out of Syria."-THE NEW YORKER. ( 115 min ) ^ Top
Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 9 PM Sun, Sep 24, 2006 at 3:45 PM	NIGHTS OF THE JACKALS (LAYALI IBN AWAH) DIRECTOR: ABDELLATIF ABDUL-HAMID SYRIA One of the most widely screened Syrian films, NIGHTS OF THE JACKALS follows the life of a peasant family, whose days are spent plowing fields and whose nights are punctuated by the menacing howling of jackals. The stern father, a retired army officer, organizes his family's life and labor as he would a small platoon. The eldest son is sent away to study, the beautiful daughter grows frustrated waiting for her painfully shy suitor to ask for her hand, and the younger son pines for the neighbor's wife. Surrounding his house each evening are what he believes to be vicious jackals, which can only be kept at bay with the high-pitched whistling of his wife. Suddenly the 1967 war with Israel breaks out, and all their lives are changed forever. ( 102 min ) ^ Top
Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 9 PM Sun, Sep 24, 2006 at 4 PM	JUST GET MARRIED DIRECTOR: HOUSSAM CHADAT SYRIA/GERMANY Houssam Chadat's hilarious and heartwarming film recounts a student's desperate attempts to stay in the country he loves when his visa is about to expire. ( 21 min ) ^ Top
Thu, Sep 28, 2006 at 7 PM	SACRIFICES (SUNDUQ AL-DUNYA) DIRECTOR: OUSSAMA MOHAMMAD SYRIA Mohammad's second film, made almost 15 years after his much acclaimed STARS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, focuses on a family as a microcosm for larger society. Living in a house perched precariously on a mountainside, three families await the death of their common patriarch, and news of which grandson will be designated his heir. When the man dies without naming anyone, the families begin to fight among themselves, with each prospective heir pursuing his own path. Despite the many differences among the three young men who are the film's focus, each seems destined to make the same mistakes, trapped as they all are within structures and conventions that make escape seemingly impossible. "SACRIFICES indicates a particular shift in Syrian cinema toward a complex, metaphorical language - a recurrent recourse to metaphor, the fantastic, the absurd, the comic ... This phenomenon can be explained by the strengthening of censorship since the mid-1990s."-Cécile Boëx, FILM COMMENT. ( 113 min ) ^ Top
Fri, Sep 29, 2006 at 7 PM Sun, Oct 1, 2006 at 4:45 PM	THE EXTRAS (AL-COMPARSS) DIRECTOR: NABIL MALEH SYRIA The winner of numerous awards, Maleh's film is the often-funny story of aspiring actor and garage mechanic Salem. Salem has eyes for the pretty young widow Nada, who seems just as interested in him, yet other sets of eyes-namely those of Nada's protective brothers-are never far away. When a friend of Salem's lends him an apartment so that he can arrange a tryst with Nada, the couple can finally enjoy a few hours of being alone together- or can they? Director Maleh manages to create a work that's both a tender love story as well as a critical look at marginalization and the people who modern societies deem superfluous. "One of the high points of an adventurous film series . . .A mood of comic paranoia dominates the film, which is heavily laced with Salem's flaming fantasies of steamy erotic delights and disastrous interruptions."-NEW YORK TIMES. (105 mins.) ( 105 min ) ^ Top
Fri, Sep 29, 2006 at 7 PM Sun, Oct 1, 2006 at 4:45 PM	THE WASH DIRECTOR: HISHAM EL-ZOUKI SYRIA/NORWAY In Hisham el-Zouki's poetic tale, two immigrants in Norway, working as cleaners for a company entrusted to prepare a site for the visit of the U.S. president, are suddenly in chaos when blood begins to drip from the American flag hanging on its mast. ( 8 min ) ^ Top
Sat, Sep 30, 2006 at 6:30 PM Sun, Oct 1, 2006 at 7 PM	UNDER THE CEILING DIRECTOR: NIDAL EL-DIBS SYRIA Nidal El-Dibs's film is the first to portray the angst of the forty-something generation of urban professionals in Syria. Forty years of stories fall from the leaking ceiling in Marwan's room. Under that ceiling, his closest friend and hero suddenly dies, leaving a widow, Lina, who Marwan was once in love. In a city exhausted by the legacy of its past, the two protagonists are faced with new possibilities, but burdened by the weight of lost dreams and thwarted revolutions. Will they remain trapped, re-invent their story or find a new life for themselves? "Time-traveling without the benefit of segues . . . a poetic collage mixing present-day and decades-spanning reveries with attractively enigmatic scenes that signal the arrival of a director to watch."-VARIETY. ( 90 min ) ^ Top
Sat, Sep 30, 2006 at 6:30 PM Sun, Oct 1, 2006 at 7 PM	THEY WERE HERE DIRECTOR: AMMAR EL-BEIK SYRIA Coming to terms with the end of the industrial era, Ammar el-Beik offers an elegant and eloquently composed meditation on retrospection. ( 12 min ) ^ Top