Synopsis
As the revolution turns into war; Nidal, a Syrian filmmaker, is forced to leave the country. He locks up his Damascus home door and travels with his wife and daughter to Cairo, which was celebrating a successful revolution at the time. His friends ask him to pitch in the renovation of an old cinema theatre upon which they are about to embark. Nidal, whose refuge in Cairo keeps extending indefinitely, starts longing for his home and city and finds refuge in personal family home videos and memories as he discovers a new space: an old locked cinema in the heart of Cairo. He attempts to make a film about his longing to his home by documenting the old cinema theater while using the home video tapes to tell a story of hope, perhaps also of despair.
72 minutes
2021
Syria/ Egypt
Arabic with English subtitles
Director: Nidal Al Dibs
Producer: Mostafa Youssef
Company of production: Seen Films, in coproduction with Nidal Al Dibs and Plateau 84
Cinematographer: Mahmoud Lotfi
Editor: Micheal Youssef Shafik
Sound: Max Schneider
Nidal Al-Dibs was born in Syria in 1960. An architect and director, he graduated from the Moscow VGIK Film Institute in 1995. Many of his films have received international acclaim. The short, Ya Leil Ya Ein (1999), was selected for Official Competition at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. His feature Under the Ceiling (2005) screened at the Montreal World Film Festival and won the Jury Prize at Salla Film Festival as well as the Best Actress prize at the Wahran Film Festival. His documentary Black Stone (2006) received Special Mention at the Ismailia Film Festival and was in the Official Selection at the 2013 Locarno Film Festival, while Homemade Stories (2021) premiered at IDFA.