Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker

Syrian filmmaker Ziad Kalthoum at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial (photo courtesy Ziad Kalthoum).

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Viola Shafik
Syrian filmmaker Ziad Kalthoum at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial (photo courtesy Ziad Kalthoum).

 

Interviewed by Viola Shafik

 

Ziad Kalthoum is an award-winning new generation filmmaker from Syria. He‘s made three creative documentaries, Oh My Heart (Aydal ayuha al-qalb, 2011), The Immortal Sergeant (al-raqib al-khalid, 2014) and Taste of Cement (ta`m al-asmant, 2017). While the first film was banned in Syria when it came out, portraying a Syrian Kurdish village, the second became a very personal account of the filmmaker’s experience in the army documenting at the same time the making-of The Ladder to Damascus (sulum illa Dimashq, 2011) by film veteran Mohamed Malas. Kalthoum‘s third film was conceived entirely in exile, a “magic realist” documentary on Syrian construction workers in Beirut. Presently, Kalthoum is working on a new documentary and has a fiction film project in development. He is based in Berlin but has gone from Homs to Beirut and Stalingrad, among other former cities of war.

 

Viola Shafik: In your upcoming fiction film project, Berlin features prominently. One sentence struck me in the proposal saying that for the main character Karim, a Syrian photographer, Berlin represented a cemetery. Why does he reconnect to life only when he leaves Berlin?

Ziad Kathoum: First of all, I did not choose Berlin; rather, Berlin chose me. I came to Berlin because I was looking for a sound designer for Taste of Cement. The first time in my life I traveled abroad I found myself in Stalingrad (Volgograd) in Russia, which was Berlin’s adversary in WWII. Most of the city was destroyed. Until now the traces of war are obvious and all of the city’s sculptures and monuments relate to war. When I returned to Syria and the war began, I went to Beirut — Beirut of course was ruined as well, and this while I myself hail from Homs, a city that has been in turn totally destroyed.

Coming from a war made me read Berlin differently. Many things raise questions here. For a young visitor from Spain or Italy, Berlin means Happyland, a place where he visits night clubs and enjoys music, drugs, whatever. This Happyland, or let’s say Alice in Wonderland is predestined to trigger a Syrian’s trauma. People come to Berlin to take drugs, to tour the clubs, have fun, lose themselves, wake up again, and so on. What about someone who comes from the war, to a city that has a lot to do with war? For instance, the messing-plated cement cubes you find on Berlin’s sidewalks, Stolpersteine, to stumble upon [in the memory of deported Jewish Berlin residents], they remind me of gravestones that carry a person’s name, date of birth and death. For a tourist, one of the first places to visit is the Holocaust Memorial (that speaks of the murdered Jews of Europe). It’s the biggest monument in the city and one of its main touristic sites. When I stood the first time between the huge cement blocks, they reminded me a lot of Syria after the collapse. Normally, in Syria you build a house and leave the concrete pillars on the roof for your son to fill in the walls. Quite symbolically, the son continues, leaves in turn new pillars for his son and so on. When the houses got destroyed, these pillars came down and turned Syria’s landscape into one of concrete mountains.

The Holocaust Memorial reminded me also that this country is still on of the biggest producers of weapons, exporting them to the world. What does it mean to know that Germany had sold chemical weapons to the Assad regime that he used against Syrians? How come, six million people were gassed in the Holocaust and this system is still producing chemical weapons? It shows also that we are living in a non-stop loop of war, moving from one war to the next.

VS: What does a space for an exiled person signify, a real space or rather a mirror that reflects his inner world? The latter seems to be the logic of your fiction film project.

ZK: In my fiction, Karim the photographer found himself in a position that he did not chose: he becomes a photographer for the regime. His task is to photograph detainees. After he finishes his job they are going die, and he becomes an accomplice in their murder. In Berlin, Karim is in pursuit of his own ghost, this soldier he used to be in Syria who stood behind the camera to photograph faces. He meets him at the Holocaust Memorial. Karim’s girlfriend or lover senses that he is about to collapse and takes him out to nature. This happened to me in reality. I found myself in Poland with a very strange family, people who use leeches for health reasons. When I tried them and saw the bad blood exiting my body, I imagined that the worm is eating up the bloody footage from my head, all these images of war in my memory.

Now I am also starting a new documentary film project. The idea for it developed around a year ago and by mere accident both protagonists are photographers. I thought about it a while and found it a good idea to make two films dealing with the meaning of the image and what kind of photographers we become in the moment of collapse. How is it to carry a camera that can become the tool for killing, as in the case of Karim in the fiction; the camera as revolver. As soon as he presses the button it is as if he has announced the death verdict for the person he photographs.

Thus, I consider it is a presentation from two different angles. The one who took pictures for the regime feels guilty, has a guilt complex. The second photographer, Muzaffar, is an old friend, who witnessed the uprising from the beginning. He has no guilt complex. He was not in any position responsible for the destruction or the killing etc. Yet he is in a state of loss, deprivation of place and people who left in front of his lenses, whose situation he documented. In fact, Muzaffar was one of the first photographers to document the revolution. Newspapers from all over the world published his photos. He escaped like many Syrians and found himself in Rouen, the capital of Normandy, surrounded by a wonderful landscape. Monet and the Impressionist school came from there.

However, we discover that he lives in a place where the traces of WWII are still very much present, particularly in this area, where the Americans descended to liberate France from the Nazis: the tanks at the seaside, huge mass graves with thousands of deaths resulting from  Americans and Nazis fighting at close quarters. When Muzaffar first arrived there, he isolated himself. Six years he spent behind the kitchen window photographing the landscape. He ended up with a huge production. Then, at one point he takes out his hard discs and starts printing his images from the war in Syria. This is the topic we are addressing, how a person in exile engulfed by such a wonderful landscape experiences the sudden reappearance of his trauma. 

VS: If we ask Ziad, with whom of these two protagonists does he have more in common?

ZK: I was in the position of Karim. I was a soldier but I was not forced to take pictures of people who then proceeded to the guillotine. You saw me in The Immortal Sergeant. In the morning I was a soldier documenting the place that sparked the war, the evening I spent with Mohamed Malas running these interviews with people who came from the places on which the bombs had been dropped. In a way, I was here and there but not entirely. Documentation at the moment of collapse, the moment of destruction and war poses a big question, how are we documenting and from which perspective? Am I producing propaganda for a certain party or am I recording from my perspective without affiliation, religious or nationalist coloring? What does it mean to be a witness of the last portrayal of a face, like in Cesar’s case. If you remember, they have no expression. Cesar photographed 50,000 bodies with no expression. Karim is the opposite, he takes their last picture with their faces full of fear.

After he left Syria, Muzaffar asked himself many times, what am I shooting here after all the destruction that I recorded, this drama and tragedy? What to photograph now? I was reading even the images he took in Rouen as being different from anyone else’s landscape photographs. His breath, his soul, his subconscious are imprinting on his images. There is a continuity if you see his images from Syria and those from Rouen.

VS: I remember that your departure from Syria was quite dramatic. Had you finished your military service or did you desert?

ZK: Yes, I deserted. The main problem was that I “belong” to the Alawite sect, the sect that dominates the regime. Thus my crime was twofold, a double treason, as soldier and as an Alawite. This put me into a difficult position, with my male cousins. My relatives who do not share the same convictions accused me of betrayal, similar to my neighborhood friends from childhood. This double treason was difficult to deal with. Being a soldier who went to work from 7 am to 2 pm administrating the cinema building gave me space to maneuver, but the moment they put my name on the list and asked me to carry weapons, I evaded right away.

VS: You escaped to Beirut, right?

Ziad Kalthoum was born in Homs in 1981 and graduated after studies in film. He has worked as an assistant director on several films, series and television programs, including Mohamed Malas’s Ladder to Damascus (2013). In 2011, he directed his first short documentary, Oh, My Heart, which was selected for the Carthage Film Festival. Kalthoum’s first feature-length documentary The Immortal Sergeant (2013), deals with the schizophrenic daily life and encounters he experiences between his mandatory military service in the Syrian Army and his role as assistant director during the shooting of Ladder to Damascus. In Taste of Cement, Kalthoum takes us into the lives of Syrian construction workers rebuilding post-war Beirut.

ZK: I remained for eight months in Syria. During that time I edited The Immortal Sergeant. I stayed in hiding in Damascus, then I was able to clandestinely leave to Beirut in early 2013.

VS: I can see indeed a graphic line going from The Immortal Sergeant in Damascus to Taste of Cement in Beirut ending in Berlin.

ZK: I discovered that later, while I was moving from one place to the other, which made me also understand my own characteristics as filmmaker. I am a person who makes films after he has lived in a place and has been affected by it. After making my observations, I develop a certain image of that place in which I was forced to take refuge. And to be honest, every place I escaped to carried a strong memory of war. Two and a half years in Beirut! What can we say about Beirut? Fifteen years of civil war, vast destruction that you can see until today and its aftereffects, be they physical on the buildings or on the faces of people, their behavior and how they deal with the situation. Then Berlin. Stalingrad, Homs, Beirut, Berlin, what an accident! Thus, by mere chance I was moving from one war place to the next. I fled the war and, naturally, could not prevent myself from seeing that city critically that everybody was admiring for its Alice in Wonderland character.

VS: As I know a different Berlin from my adolescence, I share your Alice in Wonderland impression and in how it spreads a big lie. What lies underneath, what you are expressing might be much more of the truth, in my view as well.

ZK: People get drugged, not just physically but also mentally, preventing them from putting any question marks. Even all the demonstrations that take place in Berlin, they surely have their justified reasons, but there is one very obvious thing that no one speaks about. We think we live in a place where free speech is allowed but in Berlin we don’t dare to speak about Palestine for instance.

VS: Yes, I was told that protests for the Palestinian cause currently are not authorized.

ZK: Here we come back to the same idea: In Syria it was like that and in Beirut you had an East and a West, the same mentality only different in style and power. This is why I also feel anger at that global regime. It thinks it has the right to enter any country, exchange a regime — as bad as this regime may be — and destroy the country for the sake of democracy.

VS: Can we turn to Ziad, the Syrian cinéaste before the war and after, or better, now in exile, as the war has not ended yet.

ZK I feel, I was the same before and after the revolution, but the drama intensified and me with it. The acts got bigger, the acts of killing took now place in front of us. When the revolution started and I was still a soldier, if someone was caught in the army carrying a mobile phone he was considered a traitor and executed immediately. I met this challenge when I went to shoot. There is my 45 minute-long documentary (Oh, My Heart) from before the war, shot in 2009. It was already challenging the regime as it tackled Kurdish society.

At that time, we were not permitted to bring a camera to the Kurdish territories. We were not allowed to shoot Kurds, thus as a cinéaste I was closing in with my camera on the red line. I was depicting a small Kurdish village populated by women alone. In Syrian Kurdish society men are absent for three reasons; either the fight on the Kurdish side against the Turks in the mountains, or they are wanted and detained by the Syrian regime, or they have escaped because of tribal revenge. What attracted me was how the women expressed their pain and suffering. When a woman tells her story, she stops suddenly and continues the story with an improvised song and lamentation.

Before the revolution, I dreamt of making films on the situation of people, also on their political situation, only that at one point everything exploded. Even the film on which I assisted, The Ladder to Damascus by Malas was a political film. (His lead actor, Ghassan al-Jabai, a theatre director just passed away.) He had been detained by the regime for twenty years. I imagine, even without the revolution we would be still making films opposed to the regime. I liked Omar Amiralay and worked with Mohamed Malas and Oussama Mohamed; all of them have been dissidents.

Also, I was brought up in a dissident atheist family. My friends and neighbors with whom I grew up became all “shabiha” [lit.: ghosts denoting the regime’s paramilitary terror squads] of the regime, instead. I cannot really blame them for the way they were brought up, what they learned, the brainwashing they underwent. If they had had the same opportunity as me, their situation might have been different. I can say Ziad remained the same, he did not leave the script or change, only that the scenery became worse, a criminal, corrupt regime whose detainees have been spending decades in prisons, a country that suppresses anyone who disagrees or says no to the regime and puts him in prison, a society where the regime tries to eliminate individuality, the peculiarity of each person.

At school we wore military uniforms. All of us had to shave our hair the same way, as in North Korea. We got deprived of our peculiarities to resemble everybody else. This had a strong impact on me and I was very aware of it quite early through my family and my upbringing.

VS: If you were to choose, would you continue to stay in Berlin?

ZK: I tried to learn the language but in fact I don’t want to stay. I want to complete the fiction and then leave. The minimum is to go to a sunny place.

 

This interview was edited and translated from Arabic by Viola Shafik and revised by Ziad Kalthoum.

 

Viola Shafik

Viola Shafik Viola Shafik is a filmmaker, author and film scholar. She is the author of Arab Cinema: History and Cultural Identity,1998/2016 (AUC Press), Popular Egyptian Cinema: Gender, Class and Nation, AUC-Press, 2007 (AUC-Press), Resistance, Dissidence, Revolution. Documentary Film Aesthetics in the... Read more

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On Fathers, Daughters and the Genocide in Gaza 

30 OCTOBER 2023 • By Deema K Shehabi
On Fathers, Daughters and the Genocide in Gaza 
Book Reviews

The Refugee Ocean—An Intriguing Premise

30 OCTOBER 2023 • By Natasha Tynes
<em>The Refugee Ocean</em>—An Intriguing Premise
Islam

October 7 and the First Days of the War

23 OCTOBER 2023 • By Robin Yassin-Kassab
October 7 and the First Days of the War
Art & Photography

Middle Eastern Artists and Galleries at Frieze London

23 OCTOBER 2023 • By Sophie Kazan Makhlouf
Middle Eastern Artists and Galleries at Frieze London
Books

In Praise of Khaled Khalifa—Friend, Artist, Humanist

16 OCTOBER 2023 • By Robin Yassin-Kassab
In Praise of Khaled Khalifa—Friend, Artist, Humanist
Essays

Forging Peace for Artsakh—The Debacle of Nagorno Karabagh

16 OCTOBER 2023 • By Seta Kabranian-Melkonian
Forging Peace for Artsakh—The Debacle of Nagorno Karabagh
Weekly

World Picks from the Editors, Oct 13 — Oct 27, 2023

12 OCTOBER 2023 • By TMR
World Picks from the Editors, Oct 13 — Oct 27, 2023
Theatre

Lebanese Thespian Aida Sabra Blossoms in International Career

9 OCTOBER 2023 • By Nada Ghosn
Lebanese Thespian Aida Sabra Blossoms in International Career
Books

Fairouz: The Peacemaker and Champion of Palestine

1 OCTOBER 2023 • By Dima Issa
Fairouz: The Peacemaker and Champion of Palestine
Fiction

“Kaleidoscope: In Pursuit of the Real in a Virtual World”—fiction from Dina Abou Salem

1 OCTOBER 2023 • By Dina Abou Salem
“Kaleidoscope: In Pursuit of the Real in a Virtual World”—fiction from Dina Abou Salem
Art & Photography

Adel Abidin, October 2023

1 OCTOBER 2023 • By TMR
Adel Abidin, October 2023
Art & Photography

World Picks From the Editors, Sept 29—Oct 15, 2023

29 SEPTEMBER 2023 • By TMR
World Picks From the Editors, Sept 29—Oct 15, 2023
Art

Special World Picks Sept 15-26 on TMR’s Third Anniversary

14 SEPTEMBER 2023 • By TMR
Special World Picks Sept 15-26 on TMR’s Third Anniversary
Books

“Sadness in My Heart”—a story by Hilal Chouman

3 SEPTEMBER 2023 • By Hilal Chouman, Nashwa Nasreldin
“Sadness in My Heart”—a story by Hilal Chouman
Film

The Soil and the Sea: The Revolutionary Act of Remembering

7 AUGUST 2023 • By Farah-Silvana Kanaan
<em>The Soil and the Sea</em>: The Revolutionary Act of Remembering
Poetry

Three Poems from Pantea Amin Tofangchi’s Glazed With War

3 AUGUST 2023 • By Pantea Amin Tofangchi
Three Poems from Pantea Amin Tofangchi’s <em>Glazed With War</em>
Book Reviews

Can the Kurdish Women’s Movement Transform the Middle East?

31 JULY 2023 • By Matthew Broomfield
Can the Kurdish Women’s Movement Transform the Middle East?
Interviews

Musical Artists at Work: Naïssam Jalal, Fazil Say & Azu Tiwaline

17 JULY 2023 • By Jordan Elgrably
Musical Artists at Work: Naïssam Jalal, Fazil Say & Azu Tiwaline
Book Reviews

Why Isn’t Ghaith Abdul-Ahad a Household Name?

10 JULY 2023 • By Iason Athanasiadis
Why Isn’t Ghaith Abdul-Ahad a Household Name?
Opinion

The End of the Palestinian State? Jenin Is Only the Beginning

10 JULY 2023 • By Yousef M. Aljamal
The End of the Palestinian State? Jenin Is Only the Beginning
Beirut

“The City Within”—fiction from MK Harb

2 JULY 2023 • By MK Harb
“The City Within”—fiction from MK Harb
Fiction

“The Long Walk of the Martyr”—fiction from Salar Abdoh

2 JULY 2023 • By Salar Abdoh
“The Long Walk of the Martyr”—fiction from Salar Abdoh
Cities

In Shahrazad’s Hammam—fiction by Ahmed Awadalla

2 JULY 2023 • By Ahmed Awadalla
In Shahrazad’s Hammam—fiction by Ahmed Awadalla
Arabic

Inside the Giant Fish—excerpt from Rawand Issa’s graphic novel

2 JULY 2023 • By Rawand Issa, Amy Chiniara
Inside the Giant Fish—excerpt from Rawand Issa’s graphic novel
Featured Artist

Artist at Work: Syrian Filmmaker Afraa Batous

26 JUNE 2023 • By Dima Hamdan
Artist at Work: Syrian Filmmaker Afraa Batous
Art & Photography

Newly Re-Opened, Beirut’s Sursock Museum is a Survivor

12 JUNE 2023 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Newly Re-Opened, Beirut’s Sursock Museum is a Survivor
Editorial

EARTH: Our Only Home

4 JUNE 2023 • By Jordan Elgrably
EARTH: Our Only Home
Essays

Turkey’s Earthquake as a Generational Disaster

4 JUNE 2023 • By Sanem Su Avci
Turkey’s Earthquake as a Generational Disaster
Arabic

Arab Theatre Grapples With Climate Change, Borders, War & Love

4 JUNE 2023 • By Hassan Abdulrazzak
Arab Theatre Grapples With Climate Change, Borders, War & Love
Islam

From Pawns to Global Powers: Middle East Nations Strike Back

29 MAY 2023 • By Chas Freeman, Jr.
From Pawns to Global Powers: Middle East Nations Strike Back
Music

Artist At Work: Maya Youssef Finds Home in the Qanun

22 MAY 2023 • By Rana Asfour
Artist At Work: Maya Youssef Finds Home in the Qanun
Film

The Refugees by the Lake, a Greek Migrant Story

8 MAY 2023 • By Iason Athanasiadis
The Refugees by the Lake, a Greek Migrant Story
Opinion

Nurredin Amro’s Epic Battle to Save His Home From Demolition

24 APRIL 2023 • By Nora Lester Murad
Nurredin Amro’s Epic Battle to Save His Home From Demolition
Essays

When a Country is not a Country—the Chimera of Borders

17 APRIL 2023 • By Ara Oshagan
When a Country is not a Country—the Chimera of Borders
Essays

Artsakh and the Truth About the Legend of Monte Melkonian

17 APRIL 2023 • By Seta Kabranian-Melkonian
Artsakh and the Truth About the Legend of Monte Melkonian
Beirut

Remembering the Armenian Genocide From Lebanon

17 APRIL 2023 • By Mireille Rebeiz
Remembering the Armenian Genocide From Lebanon
Beirut

Tel Aviv-Beirut, a Film on War, Love & Borders

20 MARCH 2023 • By Karim Goury
<em>Tel Aviv-Beirut</em>, a Film on War, Love & Borders
Beirut

War and the Absurd in Zein El-Amine’s Watermelon Stories

20 MARCH 2023 • By Rana Asfour
War and the Absurd in Zein El-Amine’s <em>Watermelon</em> Stories
Centerpiece

Broken Home: Britain in the Time of Migration

5 MARCH 2023 • By Malu Halasa
Broken Home: Britain in the Time of Migration
Fiction

“Counter Strike”—a story by MK HARB

5 MARCH 2023 • By MK Harb
“Counter Strike”—a story by MK HARB
Fiction

“Mother Remembered”—Fiction by Samir El-Youssef

5 MARCH 2023 • By Samir El-Youssef
“Mother Remembered”—Fiction by Samir El-Youssef
Cities

For Those Who Dwell in Tents, Home is Temporal—Or Is It?

5 MARCH 2023 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
For Those Who Dwell in Tents, Home is Temporal—Or Is It?
Essays

More Photographs Taken From The Pocket of a Dead Arab

5 MARCH 2023 • By Saeed Taji Farouky
More Photographs Taken From The Pocket of a Dead Arab
Cities

The Odyssey That Forged a Stronger Athenian

5 MARCH 2023 • By Iason Athanasiadis
The Odyssey That Forged a Stronger Athenian
Book Reviews

To Receive Asylum, You First Have to be Believed, and Accepted

5 MARCH 2023 • By Mischa Geracoulis
To Receive Asylum, You First Have to be Believed, and Accepted
Columns

Letter From Turkey—Antioch is Finished

20 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Letter From Turkey—Antioch is Finished
Book Reviews

Yemen War Survivors Speak in What Have You Left Behind?

20 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Saliha Haddad
Yemen War Survivors Speak in <em>What Have You Left Behind?</em>
Beirut

The Curious Case of Middle Lebanon

13 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Amal Ghandour
The Curious Case of Middle Lebanon
Beirut

Arab Women’s War Stories, Oral Histories from Lebanon

13 FEBRUARY 2023 • By Evelyne Accad
Arab Women’s War Stories, Oral Histories from Lebanon
Music

Berlin-Based Palestinian Returns to Arabic in new Amrat Album

23 JANUARY 2023 • By Melissa Chemam
Berlin-Based Palestinian Returns to Arabic in new <em>Amrat</em> Album
Book Reviews

Sabyl Ghoussoub Heads for Beirut in Search of Himself

23 JANUARY 2023 • By Adil Bouhelal
Sabyl Ghoussoub Heads for Beirut in Search of Himself
Art

On Lebanon and Lamia Joreige’s “Uncertain Times”

23 JANUARY 2023 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
On Lebanon and Lamia Joreige’s “Uncertain Times”
Book Reviews

End of an Era: Al Saqi Bookshop in London Closes

16 JANUARY 2023 • By Malu Halasa
End of an Era: Al Saqi Bookshop in London Closes
Book Reviews

Mohamed Makhzangi Despairs at Man’s Cruelty to Animals

26 DECEMBER 2022 • By Saliha Haddad
Mohamed Makhzangi Despairs at Man’s Cruelty to Animals
Fiction

Broken Glass, a short story

15 DECEMBER 2022 • By Sarah AlKahly-Mills
<em>Broken Glass</em>, a short story
Film

The Swimmers and the Mardini Sisters: a True Liberation Tale

15 DECEMBER 2022 • By Rana Haddad
<em>The Swimmers</em> and the Mardini Sisters: a True Liberation Tale
Art

Museums in Exile—MO.CO’s show for Chile, Sarajevo & Palestine

12 DECEMBER 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Museums in Exile—MO.CO’s show for Chile, Sarajevo & Palestine
Book Reviews

Fida Jiryis on Palestine in Stranger in My Own Land

28 NOVEMBER 2022 • By Diana Buttu
Fida Jiryis on Palestine in <em>Stranger in My Own Land</em>
Film

You Resemble Me Deconstructs a Muslim Life That Ends Radically

21 NOVEMBER 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
<em>You Resemble Me</em> Deconstructs a Muslim Life That Ends Radically
Film Reviews

Why Muslim Palestinian “Mo” Preferred Catholic Confession to Therapy

7 NOVEMBER 2022 • By Sarah Eltantawi
Why Muslim Palestinian “Mo” Preferred Catholic Confession to Therapy
Columns

For Electronica Artist Hadi Zeidan, Dance Clubs are Analogous to Churches

24 OCTOBER 2022 • By Melissa Chemam
For Electronica Artist Hadi Zeidan, Dance Clubs are Analogous to Churches
Editorial

You Don’t Have to Be A Super Hero to Be a Heroine

15 OCTOBER 2022 • By TMR
You Don’t Have to Be A Super Hero to Be a Heroine
Essays

Nawal El-Saadawi, a Heroine in Prison

15 OCTOBER 2022 • By Ibrahim Fawzy
Nawal El-Saadawi, a Heroine in Prison
Book Reviews

A London Murder Mystery Leads to Jihadis and Syria

3 OCTOBER 2022 • By Ghazi Gheblawi
A London Murder Mystery Leads to Jihadis and Syria
Editorial

Why Berlin?

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Why Berlin?
Essays

Translating Walter Benjamin on Berlin, a German-Arabic Journey

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Ahmed Farouk
Translating Walter Benjamin on Berlin, a German-Arabic Journey
Centerpiece

“What Are You Doing in Berlin?”—a short story by Ahmed Awny

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Ahmed Awny, Rana Asfour
“What Are You Doing in Berlin?”—a short story by Ahmed Awny
Fiction

“Another German”—a short story by Ahmed Awadalla

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Ahmed Awadalla
“Another German”—a short story by Ahmed Awadalla
Art & Photography

Kader Attia, Berlin Biennale’s Curator

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Melissa Chemam
Kader Attia, Berlin Biennale’s Curator
Film

Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Viola Shafik
Ziad Kalthoum: Trajectory of a Syrian Filmmaker
Art

My Berlin Triptych: On Museums and Restitution

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Viola Shafik
My Berlin Triptych: On Museums and Restitution
Columns

Phoneless in Filthy Berlin

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Maisan Hamdan, Rana Asfour
Phoneless in Filthy Berlin
Essays

Kairo Koshary, Berlin’s Egyptian Food Truck

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Mohamed Radwan
Kairo Koshary, Berlin’s Egyptian Food Truck
Cuisine

Berlin Gastronomical: A Feast of Flavors

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Randa Aboubakr
Berlin Gastronomical: A Feast of Flavors
Film

The Mystery of Tycoon Michel Baida in Old Arab Berlin

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Irit Neidhardt
The Mystery of Tycoon Michel Baida in Old Arab Berlin
Columns

Unapologetic Palestinians, Reactionary Germans

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Abir Kopty
Unapologetic Palestinians, Reactionary Germans
Art

On Ali Yass’s Die Flut (The Flood)

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Ala Younis
On Ali Yass’s Die Flut (The Flood)
Art & Photography

Shirin Mohammad: Portrait of an Artist Between Berlin & Tehran

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Noushin Afzali
Shirin Mohammad: Portrait of an Artist Between Berlin & Tehran
Essays

Exile, Music, Hope & Nostalgia Among Berlin’s Arab Immigrants

15 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Diana Abbani
Exile, Music, Hope & Nostalgia Among Berlin’s Arab Immigrants
Art & Photography

16 Formidable Lebanese Photographers in an Abbey

5 SEPTEMBER 2022 • By Nada Ghosn
16 Formidable Lebanese Photographers in an Abbey
Book Reviews

After Nine Years in Detention, an Iraqi is Finally Granted Asylum

22 AUGUST 2022 • By Rana Asfour
After Nine Years in Detention, an Iraqi is Finally Granted Asylum
Film

Two Syrian Brothers Find Themselves in “We Are From There”

22 AUGUST 2022 • By Angélique Crux
Two Syrian Brothers Find Themselves in “We Are From There”
Book Reviews

Questionable Thinking on the Syrian Revolution

1 AUGUST 2022 • By Fouad Mami
Questionable Thinking on the Syrian Revolution
Art

Abundant Middle Eastern Talent at the ’22 Avignon Theatre Fest

18 JULY 2022 • By Nada Ghosn
Abundant Middle Eastern Talent at the ’22 Avignon Theatre Fest
Film Reviews

War and Trauma in Yemen: Asim Abdulaziz’s “1941”

15 JULY 2022 • By Farah Abdessamad
War and Trauma in Yemen: Asim Abdulaziz’s “1941”
Film

Lebanon in a Loop: A Retrospective of “Waves ’98”

15 JULY 2022 • By Youssef Manessa
Lebanon in a Loop: A Retrospective of “Waves ’98”
Columns

Why I left Lebanon and Became a Transitional Citizen

27 JUNE 2022 • By Myriam Dalal
Why I left Lebanon and Became a Transitional Citizen
Columns

World Refugee Day — What We Owe Each Other

20 JUNE 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
World Refugee Day — What We Owe Each Other
Fiction

Rabih Alameddine: “Remembering Nasser”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Rabih Alameddine
Rabih Alameddine: “Remembering Nasser”
Film

Saeed Taji Farouky: “Strange Cities Are Familiar”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Saeed Taji Farouky
Saeed Taji Farouky: “Strange Cities Are Familiar”
Fiction

Dima Mikhayel Matta: “This Text Is a Very Lonely Document”

15 JUNE 2022 • By Dima Mikhayel Matta
Dima Mikhayel Matta: “This Text Is a Very Lonely Document”
Fiction

“The Salamander”—fiction from Sarah AlKahly-Mills

15 JUNE 2022 • By Sarah AlKahly-Mills
“The Salamander”—fiction from Sarah AlKahly-Mills
Art & Photography

Film Review: “Memory Box” on Lebanon Merges Art & Cinema

13 JUNE 2022 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Film Review: “Memory Box” on Lebanon Merges Art & Cinema
Book Reviews

Fragmented Love in Alison Glick’s “The Other End of the Sea”

16 MAY 2022 • By Nora Lester Murad
Fragmented Love in Alison Glick’s “The Other End of the Sea”
Film

Art Film Depicts the Landlocked Drama of Nagorno-Karabakh

2 MAY 2022 • By Taline Voskeritchian
Art Film Depicts the Landlocked Drama of Nagorno-Karabakh
Beirut

Fairouz is the Voice of Lebanon, Symbol of Hope in a Weary Land

25 APRIL 2022 • By Melissa Chemam
Fairouz is the Voice of Lebanon, Symbol of Hope in a Weary Land
Book Reviews

Joumana Haddad’s The Book of Queens: a Review

18 APRIL 2022 • By Laila Halaby
Joumana Haddad’s <em>The Book of Queens</em>: a Review
Columns

Libyan, Palestinian and Syrian Family Dinners in London

15 APRIL 2022 • By Layla Maghribi
Libyan, Palestinian and Syrian Family Dinners in London
Art & Photography

Ghosts of Beirut: a Review of “displaced”

11 APRIL 2022 • By Karén Jallatyan
Ghosts of Beirut: a Review of “displaced”
Columns

Nowruz and The Sins of the New Day

21 MARCH 2022 • By Maha Tourbah
Nowruz and The Sins of the New Day
Columns

Music in the Middle East: Bring Back Peace

21 MARCH 2022 • By Melissa Chemam
Music in the Middle East: Bring Back Peace
Essays

Mariupol, Ukraine and the Crime of Hospital Bombing

17 MARCH 2022 • By Neve Gordon, Nicola Perugini
Mariupol, Ukraine and the Crime of Hospital Bombing
Poetry

Three Poems of Love and Desire by Nouri Al-Jarrah

15 MARCH 2022 • By Nouri Al-Jarrah
Three Poems of Love and Desire by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Art

Fiction: “Skin Calluses” by Khalil Younes

15 MARCH 2022 • By Khalil Younes
Fiction: “Skin Calluses” by Khalil Younes
Opinion

Ukraine War Reminds Refugees Some Are More Equal Than Others

7 MARCH 2022 • By Anna Lekas Miller
Ukraine War Reminds Refugees Some Are More Equal Than Others
Columns

“There’s Nothing Worse Than War”

24 FEBRUARY 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
“There’s Nothing Worse Than War”
Film

“The Translator” Brings the Syrian Dilemma to the Big Screen

7 FEBRUARY 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
“The Translator” Brings the Syrian Dilemma to the Big Screen
Editorial

Refuge, or the Inherent Dignity of Every Human Being

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Jordan Elgrably
Refuge, or the Inherent Dignity of Every Human Being
Fiction

Fiction from “Free Fall”: I fled the city as a murderer whose crime had just been uncovered

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Abeer Esber, Nouha Homad
Fiction from “Free Fall”: I fled the city as a murderer whose crime had just been uncovered
Art & Photography

Children in Search of Refuge: a Photographic Essay

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Iason Athanasiadis
Children in Search of Refuge: a Photographic Essay
Columns

Getting to the Other Side: a Kurdish Migrant Story

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Iason Athanasiadis
Getting to the Other Side: a Kurdish Migrant Story
Film Reviews

“Europa,” Iraq’s Entry in the 94th annual Oscars, Frames Epic Refugee Struggle

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Thomas Dallal
“Europa,” Iraq’s Entry in the 94th annual Oscars, Frames Epic Refugee Struggle
Book Reviews

Meditations on The Ungrateful Refugee

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Rana Asfour
Meditations on <em>The Ungrateful Refugee</em>
Fiction

Fiction: Refugees in Serbia, an excerpt from “Silence is a Sense” by Layla AlAmmar

15 JANUARY 2022 • By Layla AlAmmar
Fiction: Refugees in Serbia, an excerpt from “Silence is a Sense” by Layla AlAmmar
Book Reviews

Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world

10 JANUARY 2022 • By Rana Asfour
Temptations of the Imagination: how Jana Elhassan and Samar Yazbek transmogrify the world
Columns

Sudden Journeys: From Munich with Love and Realpolitik

27 DECEMBER 2021 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: From Munich with Love and Realpolitik
Fiction

Three Levantine Tales

15 DECEMBER 2021 • By Nouha Homad
Three Levantine Tales
Comix

Lebanon at the Point of Drowning in Its Own…

15 DECEMBER 2021 • By Raja Abu Kasm, Rahil Mohsin
Lebanon at the Point of Drowning in Its Own…
Comix

How to Hide in Lebanon as a Western Foreigner

15 DECEMBER 2021 • By Nadiyah Abdullatif, Anam Zafar
How to Hide in Lebanon as a Western Foreigner
Essays

Objective Brits, Subjective Syrians

6 DECEMBER 2021 • By Rana Haddad
Objective Brits, Subjective Syrians
Beirut

Sudden Journeys: The Villa Salameh Bequest

29 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Jenine Abboushi
Sudden Journeys: The Villa Salameh Bequest
Essays

Syria Through British Eyes

29 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Rana Haddad
Syria Through British Eyes
Music Reviews

Electronic Music in Riyadh?

22 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Melissa Chemam
Electronic Music in Riyadh?
Art

Etel Adnan’s Sun and Sea: In Remembrance

19 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
Etel Adnan’s Sun and Sea: In Remembrance
Columns

Burning Forests, Burning Nations

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Hadani Ditmars
Burning Forests, Burning Nations
Book Reviews

Diary of the Collapse—Charif Majdalani on Lebanon’s Trials by Fire

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By A.J. Naddaff
<em>Diary of the Collapse</em>—Charif Majdalani on Lebanon’s Trials by Fire
Book Reviews

The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?

15 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Hadani Ditmars
The Vanishing: Are Arab Christians an Endangered Minority?
Columns

Refugees Detained in Thessonaliki’s Diavata Camp Await Asylum

1 NOVEMBER 2021 • By Iason Athanasiadis
Refugees Detained in Thessonaliki’s Diavata Camp Await Asylum
Interviews

The Anguish of Being Lebanese: Interview with Author Racha Mounaged

18 OCTOBER 2021 • By A.J. Naddaff
The Anguish of Being Lebanese: Interview with Author Racha Mounaged
Book Reviews

Racha Mounaged’s Debut Novel Captures Trauma of Lebanese Civil War

18 OCTOBER 2021 • By A.J. Naddaff
Racha Mounaged’s Debut Novel Captures Trauma of Lebanese Civil War
Interviews

Interview With Prisoner X, Accused by the Bashar Al-Assad Regime of Terrorism

15 OCTOBER 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Interview With Prisoner X, Accused by the Bashar Al-Assad Regime of Terrorism
Art & Photography

Displaced: From Beirut to Los Angeles to Beirut

15 SEPTEMBER 2021 • By Ara Oshagan
Displaced: From Beirut to Los Angeles to Beirut
Essays

Why Resistance Is Foundational to Kurdish Literature

15 SEPTEMBER 2021 • By Ava Homa
Why Resistance Is Foundational to Kurdish Literature
Latest Reviews

The Limits of Empathy in Rabih Alameddine’s Refugee Saga

15 SEPTEMBER 2021 • By Dima Alzayat
The Limits of Empathy in Rabih Alameddine’s Refugee Saga
Columns

Beirut Drag Queens Lead the Way for Arab LGBTQ+ Visibility

8 AUGUST 2021 • By Anonymous
Beirut Drag Queens Lead the Way for Arab LGBTQ+ Visibility
Weekly

Summer of ‘21 Reading—Notes from the Editors

25 JULY 2021 • By TMR
Summer of ‘21 Reading—Notes from the Editors
Art & Photography

Gaza’s Shababek Gallery for Contemporary Art

14 JULY 2021 • By Yara Chaalan
Gaza’s Shababek Gallery for Contemporary Art
Art

Malak Mattar — Gaza Artist and Survivor

14 JULY 2021 • By Jordan Elgrably
Malak Mattar — Gaza Artist and Survivor
Columns

The Semantics of Gaza, War and Truth

14 JULY 2021 • By Mischa Geracoulis
The Semantics of Gaza, War and Truth
Book Reviews

ISIS and the Absurdity of War in the Age of Twitter

4 JULY 2021 • By Jessica Proett
ISIS and the Absurdity of War in the Age of Twitter
Columns

Lebanon’s Wasta Has Contributed to the Country’s Collapse

14 JUNE 2021 • By Samir El-Youssef
Lebanon’s Wasta Has Contributed to the Country’s Collapse
Columns

Lebanese Oppose Corruption with a Game of Wasta

14 JUNE 2021 • By Victoria Schneider
Lebanese Oppose Corruption with a Game of Wasta
Essays

Syria’s Ruling Elite— A Master Class in Wasta

14 JUNE 2021 • By Lawrence Joffe
Syria’s Ruling Elite— A Master Class in Wasta
Weekly

The Maps of Our Destruction: Two Novels on Syria

30 MAY 2021 • By Rana Asfour
The Maps of Our Destruction: Two Novels on Syria
Weekly

War Diary: The End of Innocence

23 MAY 2021 • By Arie Amaya-Akkermans
War Diary: The End of Innocence
Art

The Murals of Yemen’s Haifa Subay

14 MAY 2021 • By Farah Abdessamad
The Murals of Yemen’s Haifa Subay
Essays

From Damascus to Birmingham, a Selected Glossary

14 MAY 2021 • By Frances Zaid
From Damascus to Birmingham, a Selected Glossary
Essays

We Are All at the Border Now

14 MAY 2021 • By Todd Miller
We Are All at the Border Now
Weekly

Beirut Brings a Fragmented Family Together in “The Arsonists’ City”

9 MAY 2021 • By Rana Asfour
Latest Reviews

Lost in Marseille

17 APRIL 2021 • By Catherine Vincent
Lost in Marseille
Columns

Memory and the Assassination of Lokman Slim

14 MARCH 2021 • By Claire Launchbury
Memory and the Assassination of Lokman Slim
Columns

The Truth About Syria: Mahmoud’s Story

14 MARCH 2021 • By Mischa Geracoulis
The Truth About Syria: Mahmoud’s Story
Poetry

The Freedom You Want

14 MARCH 2021 • By Mohja Kahf
The Freedom You Want
Weekly

Hanane Hajj Ali, Portrait of a Theatrical Trailblazer

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Nada Ghosn
Hanane Hajj Ali, Portrait of a Theatrical Trailblazer
TMR 6 • Revolutions

Revolution in Art, a review of “Reflections” at the British Museum

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Malu Halasa
Revolution in Art, a review of “Reflections” at the British Museum
Essays

A Permanent Temporariness

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Alia Mossallam
A Permanent Temporariness
TMR 6 • Revolutions

The Revolution Sees its Shadow 10 Years Later

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Mischa Geracoulis
The Revolution Sees its Shadow 10 Years Later
TMR 6 • Revolutions

Ten Years of Hope and Blood

14 FEBRUARY 2021 • By Robert Solé
Ten Years of Hope and Blood
Book Reviews

The Polyphony of a Syrian Refugee Speaks Volumes

25 JANUARY 2021 • By Farah Abdessamad
The Polyphony of a Syrian Refugee Speaks Volumes
TMR 5 • Water

Watch Water Films & Donate to Water Organizations

16 JANUARY 2021 • By TMR
Watch Water Films & Donate to Water Organizations
Film Reviews

Muhammad Malas, Syria’s Auteur, is the subject of a Film Biography

10 JANUARY 2021 • By Rana Asfour
Muhammad Malas, Syria’s Auteur, is the subject of a Film Biography
TMR 4 • Small & Indie Presses

Shahla Ujayli’s “Summer With the Enemy”

14 DECEMBER 2020 • By Shahla Ujayli
Shahla Ujayli’s “Summer With the Enemy”
TMR 4 • Small & Indie Presses

Shahla Ujayli’s “Summer With the Enemy”

14 DECEMBER 2020 • By Shahla Ujayli
Shahla Ujayli’s “Summer With the Enemy”
TMR 4 • Small & Indie Presses

Trembling Landscapes: Between Reality and Fiction: Eleven Artists from the Middle East*

14 DECEMBER 2020 • By Nat Muller
Trembling Landscapes: Between Reality and Fiction: Eleven Artists from the Middle East*
TMR 4 • Small & Indie Presses

Freedom is femininity: Faraj Bayrakdar

14 DECEMBER 2020 • By Faraj Bayrakdar
Freedom is femininity: Faraj Bayrakdar
TMR 3 • Racism & Identity

Find the Others: on Becoming an Arab Writer in English

15 NOVEMBER 2020 • By Rewa Zeinati
TMR 3 • Racism & Identity

I am the Hyphen

15 NOVEMBER 2020 • By Sarah AlKahly-Mills
I am the Hyphen
World Picks

World Art, Music & Zoom Beat the Pandemic Blues

28 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Malu Halasa
World Art, Music & Zoom Beat the Pandemic Blues
Beirut

Wajdi Mouawad, Just the Playwright for Our Dystopian World

15 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Melissa Chemam
Wajdi Mouawad, Just the Playwright for Our Dystopian World
Art

Beirut Comix Tell the Story

15 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Lina Ghaibeh & George Khoury
Beirut Comix Tell the Story
Editorial

Beirut, Beirut

15 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Jordan Elgrably
Beirut

It’s Time for a Public Forum on Lebanon

15 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Wajdi Mouawad
It’s Time for a Public Forum on Lebanon
Beirut

Salvaging the shipwreck of humanity in Amin Maalouf’s Adrift

15 SEPTEMBER 2020 • By Sarah AlKahly-Mills
Salvaging the shipwreck of humanity in Amin Maalouf’s <em>Adrift</em>

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