Reel Syria Film Festival 2012

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REEL SYRIA 2012
London
March 15-18

 

Following the successful REEL FESTIVALS 2011: SYRIA, LEBANON, SCOTLAND – a trilateral exchange of contemporary music, film and literature from Syria, Lebanon and Scotland, Reel Festivals returns for its fifth year with Reel Syria 2012, in association with Mosaic Initiative for Syria, supporting Syrian artists and showcasing Syrian culture to a UK audience.

At a time when Syria is engulfed in violent conflict, the festival will present a nuanced portrait of the country and its people. On the anniversary of the uprising, Mosaic Initiative for Syria will also raise funds for Syrians displaced and affected by the current violent crackdown.

Highlights of the festival include a performance of Score 328: SURROUND by ‘The 17’ an international public performance project conceived by artist/author/musician Bill Drummond (KLF). A Syrian film programme by DoxBox including a screening of ‘A Flood in Ba’ath Country’ directed by the late, celebrated Syrian documentary maker Omar Amiralay, an evening panel discussion on creative resistance with guests, including Asian Dub Foundation’s Steve Chandra Savale, Syrian novelists Manhal Alsarraj and Mamdouh Azzam, and other participants TBC. There will also be a fundraising Syrian-style bazaar at Kensington Town Hall.

A major fundraising music concert is scheduled, but at time of going to press, details are still being confirmed. More information will follow shortly

They have a blog that can be read here.

EVENT DETAILS

Thursday 15th March

7:00 pm – Reel Syria in association with Frontline, screening of Syrian documentary film, ‘A Flood in Ba’ath Country’ by Omar Amiralay as part of DoxBox Global Day. Q+A with Syrian Director Reem Ali £10/£8 (Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ)

Friday 16th March

5:00-7:00 pm – Literary panel discussion and readings – Culture Under Fire: Creative resistance in Syria. Join some of Syria’s best known authors, artists and poets for a discussion of cultural repression and resistance. Featuring: novelist, Manhal Alsarraj, novelist, Mamdouh Azzam, musician Steve Chandra Savale, academic, Donatella Della Ratta + more tbc (Free Word Centre)
8.30-10pm – Screening of Syrian film(s) + Q&A
Free Entry (Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3GA)

Saturday 17th March

4:00 pm – Mosaic Initiative for Syria Fundraising Syrian Bazaar (Kensington Town Hall)
7:00 pm – Art of the Revolution, Mosaic Initiative fundraising concert featuring top Syrian musicians – further programming and price info TBC (Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street, London, W8 7NX)

Sunday 18th March:

1:00 pm – Bill Drummond – ‘SURROUND in Damascus’, a piece of work created for Syria in 2011 by legendary artist and musician Bill Drummond, will now take place in exile in London. 100 volunteers are needed; all will become members of The17, Bill Drummond’s international choir.
To take part, please email surround@reelfestivals.org

DoxBox is Syria’s only independent documentary film festival and has hosted guests such as D.A. Pennebaker, Kim Longinotto, Mark Isaacs and many more. In 2012 it will take place in exile, with a programme of Syrian documentary film. The film aspect of Reel Syria will come from DoxBox.
Reem Ali is one of Syria’s best known contemporary actresses. She is the director of ‘Zabad’, a 2006 searing critique of the Assad regime, subsequently banned in Syria; it premiered at Reel Festivals 2011.

Manhal Alsarraj is an award winning Syrian author. She has published a number of books including Overcoming The Bridge (1997) and As Should Be For The River (2000), which was banned from publication in Syria due to its political connotations. Her most recent novel On My Chest (2007) was published by Cadmus books in Damascus in 2007.

Mamdouh Azzam, is a Syrian novelist, whose works are a damning portrait of life under a dictatorship, as well as being beautiful works of literature. His novel Rain Palace was banned by the Ministry of Culture for religious/political reasons and his latest novel, Women of the Imagination, is a story of a book-obsessed teacher living under the Baathist regime

Steve Chandra Savale, also known by his stage names Chandrasonic and best known for his punk rave aesthetic as the guitarist for the ground-breaking British band Asian Dub Foundation. In 2009, He presented a series of documentaries for Al-Jazeera English called Music of Resistance.

Donatella Della Ratta is an academic specializing in the study of Syrian cultural production at the University of Copenhagen. Author of several articles for leading scholarly journals, she focuses on culture of resistance in Syria and its implications.

Bill Drummond has been the bestselling musician in the world, burnt £1,000,000 as a work of performance art and written a manual on how to have a number one record. His energies are now focused on a choir called The17 and he will be presenting a piece made to take place in Syria during the festival. http://www.the17.org/scores/328,
http://www.penkilnburn.com/events/events.php

 

Reel Festivals was made possible by the generous support of the British Council .

Reel Festivals is a Firefly International project. Firefly is a charity which breaks down barriers through shared creative and cultural dialogue.

Twitter: reelfestivals / Facebook: reelfestivals

Info about Reel Festivals:
http://www.reelfestivals.org/reel-syria/