32° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
TFFDOC/OUT OF COMPETITION
EAU ARGENTEE, SYRIE AUTOPORTRAIT
by Ossama Mohammed, Wiam Simav Bedirxan
Country: France, Siria
Year: 2014
Duration: 92'
After eight months of exile in Paris, the Syrian director Ossama Mohammed is contacted on Facebook by the young Kurdish activist Wiam Simav Bedirxan. The woman questions him about his work as a director and his participation in his country’s civil war. The director, from a distance, views the hundreds of video uploaded both by resistants and Bashar al-Assad’s army. The activist, with her small camera, narrates life in the besieged city of Homs. Together, they create a devasting report of ongoing destruction.
Biography
film director
Ossama Mohammed
Ossama Mohammed (Lattakiya, Syria, 1954) graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in 1979. His debut short film, Step by Step, screened at Berlin and his first fiction feature was Stars in Broad Daylight. Deemed by many to be the most scathing critique of contemporary Syrian society trapped in the iron grip of the Baath regime, the film has never been allowed a public screening in Syria. The film was selected at the Cannes Film Festival’s Quinzaine des réalisateurs, and earned the filmmaker great critical praise. He was unable to make his second feature until 2002, when The Box of Life was selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s section Un certain regard.
FILMOGRAFIA
Khutwa Khutwa (Step by Step, cm, 1978), Nujum al-Nahar (Stars in Broad Daylight, 1988), Sunduq al-Dunya (The Box of Life, 2002).
Ossama Mohammed, Wiam Simav Bedirxan:
Eau argentée, Syrie autoportrait (doc., 2014).
Wiam Simav Bedirxan
Wiam Simav Bedirxan (Kurdistan) is a documentary filmmaker based in Homs, Syria. Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait is her debut film.
FILMOGRAFIA
Eau argentée, Syrie autoportrait (doc., 2014).
Declaration
film director
“In Syria, everyday, YouTubers film then die; others kill then film. In Paris, driven by my unexhaustible love for Syria, I find that I can only film the sky and edit the footage posted. From within the tension between my estrangement in France and the revolution, an encounter happenned. A young Kurdish woman from Homs began to chat with me, asking: ‘If your camera were here, in Homs, what would you be filming?’ Eau argentée, Syrie Autoportrait is the story of that encounter.”
Cast
& Credits
regia, sceneggiatura/directors, screenplay
Ossama Mohammed, Wiam Simav Bedirxan
fotografia/cinematography
Wiam Simav Bedirxan, migliaia di siriani/thousand Syrians, Ossama Mohammed
montaggio/film editing
Maïsoun Assad
musica/music
Noma Omran
suono/sound
Raphaël Girardot
produttori/producers
Serge Lalou, Camille Laemlé, Orwa Nyrabia, Diana El Jeiroudi
produzione/production
Les films d’ici, Proaction Film
info@justwanted.it
Ossama Mohammed, Wiam Simav Bedirxan
fotografia/cinematography
Wiam Simav Bedirxan, migliaia di siriani/thousand Syrians, Ossama Mohammed
montaggio/film editing
Maïsoun Assad
musica/music
Noma Omran
suono/sound
Raphaël Girardot
produttori/producers
Serge Lalou, Camille Laemlé, Orwa Nyrabia, Diana El Jeiroudi
produzione/production
Les films d’ici, Proaction Film
distribuzione/distribution
Wanted
contatti/contacts
contatti/contacts
Wanted
TFF
prizes
