Blue Grey

ArteEast Presents: A Retrospective: 30 Years of Syrian Cinema Touring Universities November 2006 – May 2007 North America’s first ever showcase of feature, documentary and short films by Syria's most celebrated filmmakers and emerging independent young talent debuted at Lincoln Center in New York City in Spring 2006 and is now available on DVD format.

Click on the links below to download complete program details in PDF format.
Proposal
Programs and Synopses
Biographies
Screening Fees

To find out how to bring the tour to your campus, please contact us at syriantour@arteeast.org or call 718 832 6564.

Our new publication, Insights into Syrian Cinema: Essays and Conversations with Contemporary Filmmakers, printed in conjunction with this tour, is now available for purchase from ArteEast through Rattapallax Press at www.rattapallax.com

Lens on Syria: Thirty Years of Contemporary Cinema is a groundbreaking exploration of Syrian cinema touring North America May-September 2006. The program showcases over 30 Syrian feature films, documentaries and shorts, many screening for the first time in the US, several of the films have been digitally remastered and subtitled in English for the series.

Debuting at New York's prestigious Lincoln Center from May 5th-18th 2006, the series has already been scheduled to travel to The Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago; The Canadian Film Institute in Ottawa; The Pacific Cinematheque in Vancouver; The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; The Pacific Film Archives in Berkley (organized in collaboration with The San Francisco Arab Film Festival); The Georgetown University in Washington, DC; and The Northwest Film Center in Portland, Oregon.

Often described as Arab cinema's “best kept secret”, ArteEast's Syrian cinema series provides an unprecedented opportunity for audiences throughout North America to discover a politically timely and relevant program, ranging from nonfiction films and comedies to political dramas and historical epics, all representative of one of the richest--albeit lesser-known--of world cinemas.

One of the most compelling feats of Syrian filmmakers has been their ability to craft an unabashedly independent voice despite the fact that their films are produced by the state, a stellar achievement in Arab cinema. Films do not shy away from making poignant and social and political critique, far removed from dogma and didactism.
Syrian filmmakers have not only engaged with issues pertinent to Syria, they have also been profoundly engaged with the tragedy of Palestine. Premiering in the US in this program is Mohammad Malas' poignant documentary The Dream, filmed in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon just months before the notorious massacres took place. It is a unique document that has finally become available after digital remastering and subtitling.

Other films centered on the Arab-Israeli conflict include Tewfik Saleh's classic The Dupes, Mohammad Malas' The Night and Omar Amiralay's A Plate of Sardines-Or The First Time I Heard of Israel.

The program includes old cinematic gems that have been digitally remastered and subtitled in English specifically for this program, such as Omar Amiralay's 1974 documentary Everyday Life in a Syrian Village (which he co-authored with late Syrian playwright Sa'adallah Wannus), and his 1977 documentary, The Chickens that has received critical acclaim worldwide. Other digitally remastered films that are made available for the first time in North America is Oussama Mohammad's first short fiction film, Step by Step.

One of the highlights of Lens on Syria is a long-overdue tribute to master documentary filmmaker Omar Amiralay. Winner of numerous international awards for his films, Amiralay was the subject of a special homage at this year's Cinéma du Réel Festival in Paris. While Amiralay's subject matter ranges across the entire Arab and Muslim world, his camera always finds its way back home. The series features some of the Amiralay's most renowned and compelling work, including two movies on the Euphrates Dam, the first 1970 film a homage to the Baath party's project, the second 2003 film documenting the flood caused by construction flaws and posing the event as a metaphor for the regime.

Amiralay will be in attendance at the screenings of his films during the opening weekend at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City (Friday, May 5 through Sunday, May 7). Also expected to attend is critically acclaimed filmmaker Oussama Mohammad and emerging experimental and documentary filmmaker Diana el-Jeiroudi. They will participate in Syrian Cinema Today and Tomorrow, a panel discussion moderated by Film Society's Program Director Richard Peña on Sunday, May 7, at 4:30 pm. The panel is free to the public.

Organized by ArteEast and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
Support for the series has been generously provided by the Ousseimi Foundation (Switzerland) and the Department for Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) at Columbia University.

Special thanks to Abdellatif Abdul-Hamid, Atassi Gallery (Mona Atassi), Roula Roukbi, the Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic in Washington DC (H.E. Dr. Imad Moustapha and Lina Kawakibi), Hilary Clark, Mitra Abbaspour, Oussama Ghanam, Ram Devineni (Rattapallax), Ibrahim Salti and Nuha Nuwayri-Salti, Fanny Lesage (FEMIS), Hisham el-Zouki, Mohammad Malas, Intissar Safia, Mohammad el-Roumi, Meyar el-Roumi, Ammar el-Beik, Samir Zikra, Nabil Maleh, Souheil Shadoud, Mahmoud Abdel-Wahed and Raafat Charkas.

Extra special thanks to Maria Ousseimi al-Akhaoui, Orwa Nyrabia and Diana el-Jeiroudi (Proaction Film), Oussama Mohammad, Hala al-Abdallah Yacoub, Omar Amiralay, Ahmed Zahra, Farid el-Kasm, John Hoey, and Assad Jebara.