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Lens on Syria: Thirty Years of Contemporary Cinema |
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Lens
of Syrian - Eight Vanvouver Premieres! July 6-12 VANCOUVER — One of cinema's best kept secrets — a most rare, beautiful and provocative secret — is finally revealed. This summer, Vancouver audiences will have an unprecedented opportunity to engage with the remarkable cinema of Syria, when Pacific Cinémathèque presents The Road to Damascus: Discovering Syrian Cinema, featuring nine compelling masterpieces from international arts nonprofit ArteEast's Syrian touring showcase. Politically timely and relevant, and representative of one of the richest — albeit lesser-known — world cinemas, ArteEast's Syrian program has been a long ten years in the making. After its successful debut at New York's Lincoln Center and Chicago's Gene Siskel Film Center earlier this year, this "adventurous film series" (New York Times), Arab cinema's "best kept secret" (Lincoln Film Center), makes its first of only two Canadian stops, July 6-12 at Pacific Cinémathèque. 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. These remarkable films do not shy away from making poignant and social and political critique, far removed from dogma and didactism; and often the microcosm of a single family represents the nation. Included in this series are films by Mohammad Malas
(The Night, Dreams of a City ) and Oussama Mohammed (Sacrifices,
Stars in Broad Daylight ), who, like other Syrian filmmakers in
the series, studied at VGIK, the great Soviet film school in Moscow,
and whose amazing work and innovative blending of personal and historical
narratives have long been unavailable to Canadian audiences. |
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Screening Schedule: The
Night (al-Leyl) Sacrifices
(Sunduq ad-Dunya) Stars
in Broad Daylight (Nujum an-Nahar) Under
the Ceiling (Tahta al-Saqf) At
Our Listeners’ Request (Tahta al-Saqf) The
Extras (al-Comparss) A
Land for a Stranger (Turab al-Ghuraba’) Dreams
of the City (Ahlam al-Madina) Verbal
Letters (Rasa’el Shafahiyyah) |
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Ticket Information: $8.50 Adult Single Bill Media Contacts, New York: Rasha Salti, ArteEast |
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| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This program is part of "Lens on Syria: Thirty Years of Contemporary Syrian Cinema," a touring exhibition organized by ArteEast (www.arteeaaste.org), a non-profit arts organization based in New York that promotes the arts and cultures of the Middle East. The tour is travelling to various venues in North America from May to September 2006. Special thanks to Rasha Salti and Livia Alexander of ArteEast for their helpful assistance in making this Vancouver presentation possible, and to the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York , where the program was first presented, and from whom we have borrowed our exhibition title. | ||||||||||||||||
