7th Conference on Supporting the future of Syria
The Millenium Festival supports the cultural agenda of the Brussels VII Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region” organized by the European Union (EU) on June 14th and 15th, 2023. The Conference aims to mobilize the international community in support of those affected by the Syrian conflict, and commit jointly to a comprehensive political solution to the conflict in Syria, now in its twelfth year.
“HAKAWATI: telling stories from Syria”
In the framework of the Conference, the EU, with the support of Millenium, tailored a rich cultural event programme as an opportunity to shed light on Syrian culture and arts: between 12-19 June 2023, in Brussels, “Hakawati”– an Arabic word which translates to “storyteller” as a revival of an ancient tradition in the region – brings together Syrian visual artists, performers, writers and musicians to share their stories as well as visions for today and for the future.
The programme includes: 3 film screenings, 2 photo-exhibitions, 3 “storytelling nights” with exceptional guests and a closing concert.
ALL EVENTS ARE FREE. BOOK YOUR FREE TICKET NOW.
Film program
The Translator
12.06.23 / 7pm CIVA Rue de l’Ermitage 55, 1050 Bruxelles
A discussion with the filmmakers and a drink will follow the screening.
Synopsis
This political thriller details the journey of Sami, an Arabic-English translator to find his brother who has been arrested by the Assad regime for participating in a peaceful demonstration. Along the way, Sami discovers his own voice. Based on real events, this narrative fiction film is meant to honour those who stand up to the brutality of political oppression, as well as honour the initial hope that inspired Syrians to demonstrate peacefully.
Credits
Directors: Rana Kazkaz & Anas Khalaf
Year: 2020
Duration: 105 min
Country: Syria
Languages: Arabic & English
Awards
Winner at the Biografilm Festival (Italy) : Audience Award
Nominated at the Cleveland International Film Festival (USA): Best Film
Nominated at Mostra de València – Cinema del Mediterrani (Italy) : Best Film
Nominated at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Estonia) : Best Film
Directors’ biographies
Rana Kazkaz was born on May 4, 1971 in Grenoble, France. She is a director and screenwriter. She is known for Mare Nostrum (2016), Le traducteur (2020) and Kemo Sabe (2007).
Her husband, Anas Khalaf, is an actor and director. He is known for Mare Nostrum (2016), Le traducteur (2020) and Searching for the Translator (2015).
Nezouh
06.13.23 / 7pm CIVA Rue de l’Ermitage 55, 1050 Brussels
A discussion with the filmmaker and a drink will follow the screening.
Synopsis
An allegorical tale of female emancipation set amidst the Syrian conflict in Damascus, about a family who decides to stay behind in the besieged area. When a shell rips a giant hole in the roof of the building where 14-year-old Zeina and her family live, they are suddenly exposed to the outside world. One day a young boy living nearby lowers a rope through the openingin the family’s roof and Zeina discovers her first taste of freedom. Whilst her father is determined to stay in his home and not become a refugee, this new window opens up an unimaginable world of possibilities to her and her mother who now face a dilemma of whether to stay or leave.
Credits
Director: Soudade Kaadan
Year: 2022
Duration: 103 min
Country: Syria
Language: Arabic
Awards
Winner at Venice Film Festival (Italy) : Audience Award & Lanterna Magica Award
Nominated at the Girls on Film Awards (England) : Best Cinematographer
Nominated at the Fribourg International Film Festival (Switzerland) : International Competition
Nominated at the London Film Festival (England) : Official Competition
Nominated at the British Independent Film Awards (England) : Best Lead Performance & Best Effects
Nominated at the Red Sea Film Festival (Saudi Arabia) : Best Movie
Nominated at the International Film Festival of India (India) : Best Film
Director’s biography
Born in France in 1979, Soudade Kaadan studied theater criticism in Damascus (Syria), then cinema at the Institut des Études Scénique, Audiovisuelles et Cinématographiques (IESAV) at Saint Joseph University in Beirut (Lebanon). She has made documentaries for the UNDP, UNICEF and Aljazeera. Her first feature-length documentary, Looking for Pink, won the Martine Filippi Discovery Award – Grand Prix international Urti du documentaire d’auteur de Monte Carlo 2010. His short documentary Damascus Roof and Tales of Paradise won a prize at the Dubai Festival.
Lost Souls of Syria
16.06.23 / 7pm CIVA
A discussion with the filmmakers, Catherine Marchi Uhel, Head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Persons Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011 (IIIM) and Jaber Baker, novelist, researcher, former political prisoner and human rights activist, the senior researcher responsible for the Syrian file at the SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom a drink will follow the screening.
Synopsis
In 2013, a Syrian official flees with 27,000 photos of corpses tortured to death in the country’s prisons since 2011. One year later, the photos of the Caesar Report reveal to the world the horror of the crimes of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.
Credits
Directors: Garance Le Caisne & Stéphane Malterre
Year: 2023
Duration: 99 min
Country: France, Germany
Language: French
Awards
Nominated at the Geneva Film Festival (Switzerland)
Directors’ biographies
Garance Le Caisne is a French journalist and author. Her documentary book Opération César, about the atrocities committed in the prisons of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, published in 2015, gained international recognition. She then turned it into a documentary film.
Stéphane Malterre is a French film director and journalist. With a master’s degree in language science, he began his career as a print journalist and literary and film critic. He spent fifteen years as a reporter and editor-in-chief for an audiovisual news agency, writing, filming and directing over twenty investigative reports and documentaries. In 2022, he directed and co-wrote Lost Souls of Syria with Garance Le Caisne.
All film screenings are free of charge. Book here Reservations
Exhibitions
Two photo exhibitions will be held from June 12 to 19, 2023.
Outdoor exhibition: “EU stories of empowerment””
12 portraits of Syrians telling 12 different stories in the context of the Syrian conflict.
Where? Esplanade Solidarność of the European Parliament, Place Du Luxembourg, 1050 Elsene
Indoor exhibition: “REBUILDING… LIFE. LOVE. MEMORIES”
Photographs by Carole Alfarah.
Where? CIVA – rue de l’Ermitage 55, 1050 Brussels
Lilas Hatahet, 38, a Syrian refugee, journalist and separated mother of two boys, sits on the train on her way back home after finishing her work day in Copenhagen at IMS ( International Media Support ) where she’s working as a Media Advisor, Odsherred Municipality, Denmark 13 May 2016.
STORYTELLING NIGHTS
Over the course of 3 evenings, various guests will tell their stories. The week will close with a concert by a Syrian rock band.
Lisa Minerva Luxx
The show will mix poetry, narrative and critical theoretical reflections on diaspora. It will be based on a personal story that mixes hope with loss, evoking one of future and ancestry. Drawing on the stylistics of Syrian hakawati traditions, the story will employ folk-tale tropes.
Born to a Syrian family and then placed in foster care, after a few years lisa minerva luxx was adopted into an Iraqi-Lebanese/British family. It wasn’t until 2015 she found herself being pulled back to her origins, during the peak of the Syrian civil war. Compelled to catch a grain of sand running through the hourglass of her country, lisa attempted numerous times to enter her homeland without success, only in 2023 did lisa finally cross the border to begin a journey into Syria. In an attempt to understand how homelands are contained within our bodies, the tale questions whether countries are our parents or parents are our countries?
Based on a personal story that textures hope with grief, lisa’s performance weaves poetry, narrative and critical theory reflections on diaspora, evoking an embodied sense of loyalty and responsibility for her land.
“Endless stories of destruction and death drove me to cry for something I had never known. something I had never known”.
14.06 / 7pm / La Tricoterie 158, rue Théodore Verhaegen
1060 Saint-Gilles
Storytelling by Syrian journalists
Four Syrian journalists from different media discuss disinformation and the concept of “noise” in information systems.
15.06 / 7pm / La Tricoterie, 158, rue Théodore Verhaegen
1060 Saint-Gilles
Rock band: Tanjaret Daghet
As the Syrian revolution rages on, young rockers from Damascus based in Beirut have reached their boiling point. Armed with guitars, drums and lyrics, Pressure Pot (or Tanjaret Daghet in Arabic) burst onto the scene with their own form of revolt.
Their band name represents the eruption of discovery and creativity the three musicians have found in playing together.
They’ll be on hand to talk about their experiences and their music. For the closing evening, they will host a small concert.
Discussion: 17.06 / 7pm / La Tricoterie, 158, rue Théodore Verhaegen, 1060 Saint Gilles
Concert: 19.06 / 8pm / Grand Hospice, Rue du Grand Hospice 7 – 1000 Bruxelles
this content was funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Millenium and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.