Open Gates
Open Gates was a tandem project implemented by Moviemiento and Ettijahat from Syria (Lebanon). The project included two individual parts: a three-week long short film making workshop with Syrian refugees in Beirut, and the compilation of a short film program on the topic of Syria.
Film Workshop
Short Films by Refugees in Lebanon
In Shatila, a huge camp for Syrian refugees in Beirut, Moviemiento and Ettijahat conducted a film making workshop for ten participants. Over three weeks, the young adults learnt everything from script writing to film shooting to editing… everything needed to make their own short film. In a public screening, all the resulting shorts were proudly presented during the final event of the workshop.
The Short Film Programme
Shorts from Syria
Documentations, modern dance, sarcastic animations and stop motion reveal the very different perspectives about a country marred by war and devastation. On a geographical level, the short films hail from the vast expanse of Amouda in the northern Kurdish areas, to the destroyed World Cultural Heritage site of Aleppo, through to Palestinian quarter of Yarmouk in Damascus, famous for its cultural diversity. These short films are real treasures that offer profound insights into the environment and mindset of Syrian film makers.
The short film program was shown under the title Open Gates in Berlin. Thanks to great mutual interest, the programme was screened in cooperation with the German-Syrian grassroots organisation Adopt a Revolution in a further 16 German cities.
Supported by:
