When cellphone cameras attack

Syrian Mobile Film Festival shows works by young Syrians who use their cellphones to document their lives

A huge image of a Syrian boy sitting on the floor surrounded by firearms, is projected on a screen at a hip industrial-style exhibition hall. The boy is preparing for battle, polishing his most effective weapon: not the assault rifle at his feet, but a simple blue camcorder.

This image embodies the idea behind the Syrian Mobile Film Festival, agree the organizers of the event, held this weekend in Berlin. "That's the only thing the regime is afraid of, the camera and the internet."

Created in 2014 as a tribute to the medium which played a pivotal role in the Arab Spring, the Syrian Mobile Film Festival showcases works of young Syrian directors, who use their cellphones to document their daily lives. Screenings are held both internationally and, in secret, throughout Syria.

"Clips via mobile cameras had an important role in the Syrian revolution," explained the organizers ahead of the event. "Thousands of activists and journalists filmed footage via their mobile cameras to document the uprisings, which became the main tool in the peaceful struggle and freedom of expression against dictatorship, not only in Syria but across the Arab world."

The festival also helps young filmmakers to develop their skills through grants and workshops, the results of some of which were screened in Berlin. The program of the two-day festival included eleven films, ranging in length between four and thirty minutes, which put in the foreground the personal tragedies of Syria's citizens.

In the documentary short "The Architect," director Mujahid Abu Aljoud followed a young boy, an aspiring architect, who is "restoring" his destroyed city of Aleppo. Using paper, paint and glue, he not only builds a diorama of its ruins, but also a model of a new modern city, which could one day rise from the ashes.

Another filmmaker, Aktham Alwany, joined a Syrian journalist trying to cross the border into Turkey. In "Barbed Wire," he depicted the various stages of the hazardous journey from the point of view of the hopeful Syrians, willing to risk their lives for a chance of a better one.

Other filmmakers presented more abstract works, including a music video for a Björk/Omar Souleyman remix song compiled from online videos documenting the fighting in Syria.

"There is also another side to life in Syria, a normal side, but it hasn't been captured yet because recording the horrible things that are going on is more important," explained one of the organizers. "People living in Syria have the urge to let others know what is happening to them, and they are using whatever they can in order to do that."

"I have many European friends, and while I worked I wondered, is it possible to make them understand? I thought no, that's impossible," director Ziad Adwan said to the audience on Saturday, most of them non-Arabic speakers. "But that became my purpose, to explain the Syrian experience."

In his film, "News Dreamers," Adwan created a dream narrative using YouTube clips of the Syrian uprising. "The news programs insist on showing shaky and pixelated footage, so no one can understand what is happening. I use that pixelation to express the ambiguity of the Syrian revolution and of this medium."

In Germany, in particular, greater understanding of the perils faced by Syrians, could help in turning around public opinion which is becoming increasingly concerned over the refugee influx.

"I've been in Berlin for five months and I felt the atmosphere change," admitted a member of the organization team. Although stressing that the purpose of the festival isn't to evoke sympathy, he is hoping it would inspire a positive shift. "I hope this festival will show people how hard life there can be, but also that nevertheless, people can still overcome this."

Polina Garaev is the i24news correspondent in Germany.

Source: When cellphone cameras attack