In Damascus, young pharmacist Sana is trying to give her son as normal a childhood as possible. It is 2012, the start of the war in Syria, and water, gas and electricity are scarce. Sana hears there are bottles of gas to be had in a city nearby. She sets off on a search that quickly gets out of hand after she encounters an unexpected roadblock. Along the way, she experiences the kindness of strangers, but also her worst nightmare. In an olive grove, she discovers that people can lose their shadows – as if the traumatic experience of war causes them to lose something of themselves.
Following several documentaries on refugees, this gripping story marks Soudade Kaadan’s transition to fiction. Her background in documentary is clearly visible in the natural acting, handheld camerawork and hyper-realism of Sana’s panic-stricken journey, with an excursion into the territory of magical realism. Winner of the Luigi De Laurentiis Award for Best Debut in Venice.
Film details
Productielanden
France, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria
Jaar
2018
Festivaleditie
IFFR 2019
Lengte
95'
Medium/Formaat
DCP
Taal
Arabic
Première status
None
Director
Soudade Kaadan
Producer
Amira Kaadan, Claire Lajoumard
Screenplay
Soudade Kaadan
Cinematography
Eric Devin
Editing
Pierre Deschamps, Soudade Kaadan
Production design
Maia El Khoury
Music
Kinan Azmeh
Principal cast
Sawsan Arsheed, Reham Al Kassar, Samer Ismail, Oweiss Moukhallalati, Ahmad Morhaf Al Ali, Yassin Albokhari, Hanane Hajj Ali