Programs Calendar Films

Conceived as a summation of life’s postponed projects, this beautifully shot black-and-white film is a monument to humankind’s great resilience and love of life in the face of loss, exile and death. Interviews with three Syrian women living in exile alternate with various footage: the desolate island of Arwad; paintings by the filmmaker’s husband; the husband’s emotional return to Syria to see his mother after 24 years; and an interview with painter and icon restorer Elias Zayat. Part documentary, part fable, this is a well-crafted, highly emotional tribute to the rejuvenating power of poetry and beauty in general, and in particular to Daad Haddad, a Syrian poet who disappeared in 1991.

Hala Alabdalla Yakoub was born in Syria in 1956. She studied science and sociology in Syria and Paris. From 1985 she has dedicated herself to the cinema and has worked between Syria, Lebanon and France, co-producing, co-writing and co-directing Syrian, Lebanese and French feature films and documentaries, among them films by Mohammad Malas, Omar Amiralay, Ousama Mohamed.

Ammar Albeik was born in Damascus in 1972. He taught himself film-making and directed several short films which were awarded at numerous festivals world wide.