Coming to terms with the end of the industrial era, They Were Here is an elegant and eloquently composed study that reverberates with lives lived, fading images and relics of retrospection. El-Beik makes a tightly drawn piece about public space, private contemplation and an ephemeral sensibility.

Ammar el-Beik was born in Damascus. In 1990, he enrolled at the School for Business Administration at the University of Damascus, but left the program and went to work at Studio Haig, an atelier that specializes in the repair of cameras for still photography and cinema. He also began to work with photography and participated in numerous exhibitions and competitions worldwide. His first video, Boulevard al-Assad was produced in 2001, as the outcome of a workshop titled Transit Visa organized in Beirut. He made a number of short films, including Uthuni Tastate‘ An Tasma‘ (My Ear Can See, 2001), Inahum Kanu Huna (They Were Here, 2001), ‘Indama Ulawwen Samakati (When I Color My Fish, 2002) co-directed with Hanadi el-‘Omari. In 2002 he also directed his first long film, an experimental documentary titled Clakette (Clapper). El-Beik has also worked as a cinematographer and editor on a number of documentaries and fiction features, including Lebanese filmmaker Mahmoud Hojeij's The Silent Majority in 2002. He was assistant director to Mohammad Malas for Bab el-Maqam (Passion, 2004). Recently he collaborated closely with Hala al-Aballah Yakoub on her first feature length film, Repérages de l'amour et de la mort (Location Scouting for Love and Death) as director, cinematographer, and editor. The film is in post-production and projected for release in the fall of 2006. He is currently working on the script for his first fiction feature. El-Beik's short filmography has earned him a few awards, to name two, They Were Here received the Jury Prize at the Ismai‘liya International Festival (Egypt) in 2001 and When I Color My Fish received the Jury Prize at the Brisbane International Film Festival (Australia) in 2002.