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Lens on Syria: Thirty Years of Contemporary Cinema |
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The Northwest Film Center Presents: Northwest Film Center – Portland Art Museum:
1219 SW Park Ave. September 15- October 1, 2006 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 four or five 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 One of the seminal works of the Syrian cinema was shot by one of Egypt’s finest filmmakers, based on a work by an acclaimed Palestinian author set largely in Iraq. Tewfik Saleh, adapting Ghassan Khanafani’s 1962 novella “Men in the Sun” together with its author, 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 three men, from different generations, represent different perspectives on the Palestinian experience in the diaspora; 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 mins.) Saturday, September 16, 6:30
PM Wednesday September 20, 8:30
PM 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 leads to burning questions that can only have bitter answers. (115 mins.) Thursday, September 21, 7:00
PM A double wedding in a small village turns to high drama when one bride runs away and the other refuses to go on with her marriage. Ousama Mohammad’s first feature unveils the fragile balance holding a family together after the successful but corrupt eldest son has replaced an 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. Selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and produced by the National Film Organization of Syria, it still cannot be screened there. "Funny, violent, and blunt ... perhaps the greatest film to come out of Syria."—THE NEW YORKER. (115 mins.) Friday, September 22, 9:00 PM 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 mins) With: Just Get Married! by Hussam Chadat (Syria/Germany, 2003, 20 minutes, Color, Beta SP PAL) 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 mins.) Thursday September, 7:00 PM Oussama’s second film—made almost 15 years after his much acclaimed STARS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT—focuses again on a family as a microcosm for larger society. Living in a house perched precariously on a mountainside, three related families await the death of their common patriarch, as well as for the announcement as to 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. Mohammad fills each frame with visual rhymes and reflections, qualities that also feature prominently in the narrative (the Arabic title of the film actually translates to “Box of Life”). Despite the many difference 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 mins.) Friday September 29, 7:00 PM Shown at many international film festivals, and the winner of numerous awards, Nabil Maleh’s fourth feature 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.) With: THE WASH (SYRIA/NORWAY,2005)—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 mins.) Saturday, September 30, 6:30 PM Nidal 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 with. In a city exhausted by the legacy of its past, the two protagonists are faced with new possibilities. They are 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 . . .Under the Ceiling is a poetic collage mixing present-day and decades-spanning reveries, most of them transpiring in an atmospheric apartment with a leaky ceiling. . .Attractively enigmatic scenes signal the arrival of a director to watch."—VARIETY. (90 mins.) With: THEY WERE HERE (SYRIA, 2002)—Coming to terms with the end of the industrial era, Ammar el-Beik offers an elegant and eloquently composed meditation on retrospection. (12 mins.)
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