Narratives of Today – 4 Touring Film Screenings Across Syrian Cities and Towns

Ettijahat – Independent Culture announces the film screening tours that will receive support within the second edition of the Narratives of Today initiative. The selection committee has chosen to support four film screening tours that will travel across several Syrian cities and rural areas, presenting diverse programmes of Syrian films produced over the past decade, as well as earlier Syrian films that Syrian audiences have not previously had the opportunity to watch. These films will stimulate vital discussions with audiences around urgent and timely artistic, political, and social issues.

Narratives of Today aims to strengthen the right of Syrian audiences to watch Syrian cinema produced in recent years, and to enable filmmakers to present their cinematic works to audiences of different backgrounds and in various locations. The initiative also seeks to expand access to diverse audiences within their local contexts and to create spaces for dialogue among Syrians about their circumstances and the priorities of the current phase, drawing on the different issues raised by Syrian cinema.

Supported Projects

Cinema of Our Countryside – Hadi Ramez Kseibi & Anas Marwan Altawil

A tour spanning nine stops across rural areas in the governorates of Homs, Hama, and Tartous, including Al-Qusayr, Wadi Al-Nasara, Fairouzeh, Salamiyah, Maharda, Masyaf, Safita, Mashta Al-Helou, and Baniyas. The tour aims to tailor its programming to the social context of each area and to foster community dialogue in rural environments through screenings addressing the transformations experienced by Syrian society over the past years.

All That Remains Is the Story – The Chronicle of Ecstasy, Nobility, and Wind – Iyad Aljarod

A programme of documentary screenings to be presented in two locations yet to be determined, with the possibility of transforming an alternative venue into a temporary screening space. The tour offers a comprehensive viewing experience that revisits the transformations of the city of Saraqib and the course of events that shaped it over the years, creating a setting that allows audiences to engage with both individual and collective memory through a sequential screening format that opens space for discussion.

Mobile Cinema – Omar Malas

A cinematic tour targeting Bedouin and tribal communities, as well as residents of remote desert villages in areas such as Al-Taybiyah, Al-Sukhnah, Al-Mansoura, and Al-Koum. The concept centres on organising open-air screenings that provide children and families with the opportunity to watch films in areas where cultural activities are scarce, focusing on creating a simple and direct cinematic evening that reintroduces the experience of cinema to these remote communities.

Masyaf Cinema Days – Caravan Cinema Al-Rif

A continuous week of film screenings held simultaneously in the city of Masyaf and three surrounding rural areas: Wadi Al-Oyoun, Rabou, and Al-Bayda. The project aims to establish an annual event linking the city with its surrounding countryside through evening screenings in Masyaf and daytime screenings in the villages, accompanied by activities that encourage community participation and help re-establish cinema as a recurring cultural event in the region.

Selection Committee

Hala Al-Abdallah: Film director and filmmaker

Inas Hakki: Film director

Lina Al-Abd: Film director

Jury Committee Statement

Despite the violence, destructive wars, and darkness that weigh on daily life in our country and across the Middle East, there remain sources of light that help ease this darkness. Cinema has long been, and continues to be, one of these sources, offering us the ability to persist and opening windows toward others and toward the possibilities of encounter and dialogue.

Your engagement with the Narratives of Today initiative reassures us of your commitment to sustaining Syrian cinema screenings, expanding their geographical reach, diversifying the films presented, and affirming your belief in cinema as a space for recovery, encounter, and the exchange of ideas, as well as a practical tool for collaboration in addressing the difficulties and challenges that hinder the organisation of screenings.

The submitted projects demonstrated a clear desire to explore unconventional paths, whether by reaching new regions, organising screenings specifically for children, or selecting films that respond to the particular contexts of the communities in which they will be screened. Several projects also addressed issues related to civil peace and community recovery. The committee also noted the presence of filmmakers seeking to re-screen their films for Syrian audiences after years of absence.

The committee was also struck by the initiatives of several youth-led cultural entities presenting innovative cinematic visions that reflect the concerns and questions of a new generation, operating outside traditional frameworks to create alternative spaces for dialogue, interaction, and community healing.

At the implementation level, most proposals demonstrated a clear awareness of logistical and security challenges and presented practical solutions to address issues such as shortages of electricity and equipment. Several projects also paid particular attention to public discussions accompanying the screenings and to fostering in-depth dialogue around the sensitive issues addressed by the films.

The diversity of the selected projects enables Syrian cinema, with its different productions accumulated over many years, to reach audiences once again. For a long period, this cinema, which was primarily intended for Syrian audiences, was unable to meet or reach them. The selection committee also considered the criterion of sustainability, prioritising in most cases projects that could persist and take root over time, fostering a habit among audiences of attending spaces dedicated to film screenings.

This initiative is implemented in partnership with Aflamuna Foundation and with the support of the Embassy of France in Syria and Stichting DOEN.