Uncertain States "Goethe-Institut Damascus | In Exile"

“When the bombs fell, the first thing we did was run away. It was not until later that we realized we had not looked back. We were not allowed to say goodbye to our home, our memories, our photos and the life that was lived within them. We have become vacant like these spaces; our hastily packed belongings and the forgotten things haunt us.” An uncertain existence followed the escape and expulsion from Syria that tumbled into a physical and mental nowhere, a non-space between yesterday and tomorrow. Liwaa Yazji's documentary film Haunted (Syria 2014, 112 min., Arabic with English subtitles) tells of the loss of home and security, of the real and metaphorical meaning which a house, a home has in one’s life.

Followed by a discussion with Liwaa Yazji on dealing with images, and the function and significance of personal and political documentary observations in war zones. Presentation: Irit Neidhardt.

Liwaa Yazji is a Syrian playwright, poet and filmmaker. She was resident at the Poets House in New York in 2015. Her play Goats premiered in a staged reading at The Royal Court Theatre in London in 2016. Haunted is her cinematic debut.

Irit Neidhardt is running mec film, a distribution company for films from the Arab World. She is the author of various articles on Arab cinema with a focus on the economy and its impact on Arab European cooperation in film-making.