About the film:   “194. Us Children of the camp” follows the story of Yarmouk Palestinian camp in Syria as of 2011, through the eyes and experiences of a group of young residents of the camp. The film follows the director’s journey as he is forced to join the Palestinian Liberation Army in Syria only a month before the start of the Syrian uprising. With the escalation of violence and the increasing attacks by the Syrian regime army on the camp, the director and his friends attempt to document the hopes, struggles, departures and loss they experience.    Director: Samer Salameh Producer: Bidayyat Year of production:... more

Syrian filmmakers are touring European film festivals this week, screening "Our Terrible Country," a film that explores an intergenerational friendship amid kidnappings, war and exile.    In this documentary, a young man named Ziad laughs with his white-haired companion, Yassin. They are in Turkey, having fled Syria after Ziad was captured and tortured by Islamic State militants. Yassin is in exile, fearing both the government and the Islamic State.   The film is not about what happened in the past, said its director, Ali Atassi.  It was happening as they were shooting. "I did stop shooting when Ziad was arrested by the Islamic State," Atassi... more

Il cortometraggio di un giovane siriano Siria, ecco Aleppo come non l'avete mai vista Orwa al Mokdad è un 29enne di Deraa e attraverso Bidayyat, ong siriana, mostra in "Being Good so Far" quello che, secondo lui, "non si vede sui media". Di sé dice: "Non sono un turista, né un giornalista. Sono un cittadino siriano e questa è la mia rivoluzione"   Orwa al Mokdad Siria, bombardamenti ad Aleppo. Almeno 16 morti Siria, pioggia di bombe ad Aleppo: 40 morti in 24 ore Siria, strage di bambini ad Aleppo Satira e caricature, gli arabi deridono i militanti dello Stato Islamico Condividi L'Aleppo siriana come la Berlino di Rossellini in... more

BEIRUT: “Daaesh.” Yassin Haj Saleh pauses as if the word, the Arabic acronym for ISIS, were a question in need of an answer. “It’s a fitting name,” he answers himself, “for a monster.” Haj Saleh is sitting in Douma, in the eastern Ghouta, some 10 kilometers from central Damascus. Several weeks later, he and Syrian filmmaker Ziad Homsi have made the journey from Douma to Raqqa. “Daaesh,” Haj Saleh says, three months and several hundred kilometers beyond Raqqa, is “ ... the cancerous growth of our revolution.” These remarks are recorded in “Our Terrible Country,” a documentary co-directed by Homsi and his countryman Mohammed Ali Atassi. The film had its... more

In at least one place where tomorrow feels lost, music still fills the gashed present with a kind of home-made mercy. The place is Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp outside Damascus, the present is a siege of over 450 days, and the music—unlike water and electricity–keeps flowing unstoppably from Ayham Ahmad’s battered upright piano.   Much more than a mere soundtrack, this music is the hero of the short, bittersweet documentary “I Am Blue”, which pays homage to Ayham’s insistence on composing in the midst of devastation, and the camp’s collective struggle to endure. Indeed, rather than surrendering to despair, the composer and... more

Corre l’anno 2013, la Siria è entrata nel terzo anno di guerra civile. Siamo a Douma, una città a nord est di Damasco, liberata dai ribelli che combattono il regime al governo, ma trasformata dai ripetuti bombardamenti in un monotono loop di echi e macerie, un deserto sotto assedio, dove sono in pochi a resistere. È qui che inizia Our Terrible Country, Siria Libano 2014, il documentario di Mohammed Ali Atassi e Ziad Homsi, presentato questo mese alla 25º edizione del FID – International Film Fest di Marsiglia. Vincitore della menzione speciale Espérance Prize, il documentario segue lo scrittore e dissidente Yassin al Haj Saleh,... more

Established in 2010, SANAD (“support” in Arabic) is Abu Dhabi Film Festival’s fund (ADFF), for the development and post-production of films. It provides talented filmmakers from the Arab world with meaningful support that contributes to the development or the completion of their narrative and documentary feature films. SANAD seeks out bold and remarkable projects from both new and established filmmakers with the aim of encouraging intercultural dialogue and artistic innovation while building stronger networks within the region’s film industry. SANAD has 500,000 USD at its disposal annually and makes grants in the following categories: Development: Up to 20,000 USD per project Post-production: Up to 60,000 USD per project Information... more