Omar Amiralay: Sorrow, Time, Silence

Nadi Lekol El Nas and the Sursock Museum present a two-day program on the life and work of late Syrian filmmaker Omar Amiralay. On Wednesday 26 July, we will be presenting the Lebanese premiere of Omar Amiralay: Sorrow, Time, Silence (2021) in the presence of the filmmaker Hala Alabdallah. The screening consists of three short films by Omar Amiralay, Le plat de sardines, Il y’a tant de choses encore à raconter, and Les poules.

Omar Amiralay: Sorrow, Time, Silence

Dir. Hala Alabdallah, 2021

109’, France/Syria

Hala Alabdallah paints a heartfelt posthumous portrait of Syrian documentarian Omar Amiralay who made his mark in the Arab film world with his bold take on political cinema, specifically nonfiction independent filmmaking. His activism defending Syrian civil rights and criticizing the Baathist regime caused his work to be indefinitely banned in Syria. Following his sudden death in 2011, and on the eve of Syrian political uprisings, Alabdallah embarked on a decade-long journey to pay homage to her friend and reflect on filmmaking as an act of resistance. She stitched together interview clips and intimate conversations they shared on resilience, life, death and the power of revolutionary cinema. 

Omar Amiralay (1944-2011) was a pioneering Syrian documentary filmmaker, noted for the strong political criticism in his films and played a prominent role in the events of the Damascus Spring of 2000. His activism defending Syrian civil rights and criticizing the Baathist regime caused his work to be indefinitely banned in Syria. As a driving force of nonfiction auteur cinema, his work has influenced generations of filmmakers in the Arab world.

The screening is followed by a conversation between Hala Alabdallah and writer Najwa Barakat.

Screening is free of charge

In Arabic and French with English subtitles