Roadkill in Damascus

Odaii, a young volunteer at the 16th Damascus International Film Festival, doesn8217;t watch Syrian films. American blockbusters are more his thing.

Odaii, a young volunteer at the 16th Damascus International Film Festival, doesn8217;t watch Syrian films. American blockbusters are more his thing. He sees Hollywood only, because he8217;s fiercely focussed on bettering his English. For a visiting film critic, though, there8217;s nothing quite like catching as many films from the region, even if one has to make do with subtitles. It8217;s clunky, but it8217;s a way of breaking and entering. So I go looking for Syrian cinema, and find that there8217;s just not enough of it in the large spread on offer.My search leads me to several interesting conversations. There8217;s no real local production pipeline because Syria only produces a couple of films in a year, and the capital Damascus has only about ten cinema halls. Private funding would jump start the process right now, the funds come from the government , and would automatically lead to refurbishing the cinema halls, too. That8217;s something that8217;s waiting to happen. Meanwhile, Egyptian cinema is what gets watched the most: the showing of the rollicking comedy 8216;Fawzia8217;s Secret Recipe8217; is a full house at Dar Al Assad, the glittering main venue, with the city8217;s gentry, and the actors, all turned out in their finery. Also chock-a-block are the two new Syrian films, both premieres 8212; 8216;Hassiba8217;, and 8216;Days Of Boredom8217;. The first is a historical, tracing the route a Damascene family takes from 1927 to the 50s, it was shot at over 100 locations in the city . The latter is more contemporary, about a country, and its people, getting used to the wages of war.

The Damascus international film festival is more than 30 years old, and has been growing at a steady clip: for long a bi-annual event, it8217;s turned into an yearly jamboree only last year. The programme is a sprawling, bewildering mix, with more than 200 films distributed over 11 days. Hollywood is well represented the package includes a section on Oscar winners, as well as more recent films . There8217;s a sizeable number of films from Egypt, with whom Syria has long had close creative links, as well as from Switzerland, a fresh entrant which has a whole section to itself. There are tributes to Greta Garbo, Martin Scorsese, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Zhang Yimou. There8217;s also a small section on Syrian cinema; the only section tinier is from India!

So what8217;s the criterion for selection, I ask Rafat Charkas, the festival8217;s ever busy general secretary, who8217;s never in one place for more than a minute. The whole point of the festival, he says, is for the people of Damascus to get acquainted with world cinema, and given the numbers thronging the box office windows at the four festival venues, one can see that there are enough audiences, eager to sample films from around the world. The focus is not on being spanking new, but on providing variety. The Indian segment, which is confined to Bollywood, is a puzzle. Akbar Khan8217;s two-year-old opus, 8216;Taj Mahal8217;, which didn8217;t find takers in India, is a centrepiece, with the director there to present his film. 8216;Jodhaa Akbar8217; and 8216;Taare Zameen Par8217; are the only relatively new films; the rest of the list is a seriously mixed bag of 8216;Amar Akbar Anthony8217;, 8216;Dharam Veer8217;, 8216;Shatranj Ke Khiladi8217;, 8216;Asoka8217;, 8216;Bride and Prejudice8217;, Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam8217;, 8216;Murder8217;, and the embarrassingly bad 8216;Rog8217;. The films seem to be here due to a mix of personal enterprise, Akbar Khan is here on personal invitation, Ashutosh Gowarikar was reached by the Indian embassy in Damascus and sheer availability.

I also discover that Bollywood is simply not as omnipresent here as it is in other parts of the Middle East. It arrives scantily and late in local theatres. There8217;s a TV channel dedicated to Indian films, but that8217;s only watched by those who stay at home, and the old, I8217;m told disparagingly. No one that I talk to has heard of Amitabh Bachchan. And, gasp, Shah Rukh Khan is an unknown entity. The Khan who8217;s made waves at the Damascus festival is Akbar, whose 8216;Taj Mahal8217; has shown to a rapturous response. Everywhere I go, I8217;m asked if I know the very beautiful Indian actress Booja. Err, Booja? They mean Pooja Batra, the leggy lass who plays the calculating Queen Noorjehan, and who is at hand to help promote the film. The 8216;very beautiful Booja8217; is a smash hit among festival-goers, and our group of adoring Damascene volunteers.

Like all international film festivals, the 16th edition in Damascus is a bustling global bazaar. And it8217;s determined to fast-track its trajectory, says Charkas : we8217;ll be bigger and better next year. They8217;d better, because they have competition right in the neighbourhood. In the past five years, the Dubai festival has grown huge, and the past two have seen Abu Dhabi lean to on the horizon the latter is flush with cash : a billion dollar movie making fund was announced last month, after the second festival got over ; a film school is also coming up. But Dubai is too Bollywood, and Abu Dhabi is still too new. If Damascus carries on the way it seems to be going, it looks all set to be the destination festival for the region, which is at the cusp of cultures and civilisations 8212; a wonderful confluence of East and West.

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