Feature film
صهيل الجهات
Maher Kaddo · 1993
Synopsis
The Whinnying of the Horizons: a young girl sees with her own eyes brigands kill her parents, steal the thoroughbred horses her father bred and set the house on fire, and she suffers their violence. She decides to find the murderers in order to take revenge. Her long and gruelling pursuit takes her from one end of the country to the other, from the Jazira to the steppe, the coast, the oasis and as far as the capital, and brings her into contact with very different milieus, among them a young man who falls in love with her and ties his fate to hers.
Context
It is the first feature film by its author, who wrote the screenplay, produced in Damascus by the state body, in colour, running ninety-seven minutes. Part of it was shot on the hills of the village of Basira, in the north-east. Georges Lutfi al-Khoury operated the camera, Vahe Demirdjian composed the music and Ali Leylan did the editing. The director had noticed May Skaf on the stage of the French cultural centre in Damascus; it is her first major film role, opposite Abdelrahman Abou al-Qassem.
Who it is for
A feature film in Arabic, never released in France; the revenge story serves as the thread for a journey through the landscapes of the country.
Prizes and reception
Special Jury Prize at the Damascus festival in 1993; the film that introduced the actress May Skaf to the cinema.