(Translation by Yusra Ahmed)
“Rihan”, the documentary of the director Mohannad al-Hammod, has won the first prize in the Documentary Film festivals on Saturday.
The film has shown significant skillfulness in filming, presentation and directing, besides distinctively beautiful sound effects.
The film presented very deep human revolutionary message: “we are carrying on, we, in this land are not just numbers, we are live souls and will stay so.”
Al-Hammod, the director said that the film shows huge amount of contradicting feelings, which would make viewers smile while crying and cry in the middle of laughing.
“when I won the prize, my feelings were a mix of happiness and sadness, it was like welcoming a newborn baby, I saw those moments in the eyes of the viewers of the film talking about a country where its parks turned into graveyards”, the director emotionally mentioned.
Al-Hammod explained that “Rihan” is a symbol as it is the plant used to be put on martyrs’ graves, in the same time it gives inspiration of planting, fertility and upcoming hope.
The director gave small hints about his film to keep the passion to those who have not seen it yet, he said that the main character was a director of the office of Martyrs’ funeral, and through him the film highlights deeply touching moments after massacres and martyrs’ graveyards in Homs, and shows the insistence of children to stay alive and their ability to accommodate with the reality.
“The idea of the film is purely Homsi, and who watched it would discover that.”
"In regard to conditions of production, al-Hammod explained that they were somehow quiet apart from some interrupted bombing, but the main problem was the slowness of the internet, as it harden the task of sending the film, luckily it arrived on time. “The film relies of real situations and documents told by the main character of the film”.
Al-Hammod added that “Firas” the child of the most beautiful smile has some scene in the film to present the amount of realization of the situation and accommodation with reality among children.
“I did not expect to win the first prize in the Documentary Film festivals, but I was tensed two days before the results’ announcement, I trusted the amount of effort we put in the film, in the end we won”
Al-Hammod, who used to be a photographer, explained that he has not thought of directing before, unless he was invited to the festival, and he thought that it would be a chance to show the real situation of Homs and al-Waer neighborhood, as their duty is to show people’s hard lives and suffering.
The film is to broadcast on BBC and might participate in another festival, according to the director.
Zaman Al Wasl
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