They Were Here (2000) إنهم كانوا هُنا - Syrian Artist AMMAR AL BEIK This short (8 minutes)
They Were Here (2000) إنهم كانوا هُنا - Syrian Artist AMMAR AL BEIK This short (8 minutes) black and white film retells the realities, stories, faces, and voices of the workers of one of Damascus oldest locomotive factories that came to existence following a flawed industrialization period. While the film highlights the personal experiences and struggles of those workers who have spent more than 30 years in that environment, Ammar’s aim is also to speak on the influence the dictatorship of Hafez Al-Assad had on the sustainability of a space and atmosphere that maximized the stresses on those workers; either through foreign trade agreements that halted the national development projects, or/and through the systematic devaluation and exploitation of the workers themselves by the state. You can watch the full short-film here They Were Here has received multiple prizes and special awards in 2001 from international film festivals in Qatar, Tunisia, Egypt, and Italy. -- source link
#syrian art#film stills#despair