BISFF Correspondence
通信计划
为了跨越种种障碍，开辟更多交流空间，我们设置了“BISFF Correspondence 通信计划”，对部分国际单元的参展作者进行系列访谈，这些访谈将在作品放映后发布在联展各个媒体平台。
صيف، مدينة وكاميرا ｜summer, city and a camera｜夏天，城市和摄影机
Anas Zawahri｜0:22:16｜2022｜Syrian Arab Republic｜No Dialogue｜Asia Premiere
Q & A
Director导演：Anas Zawahri
interviewer采访：杨文玥
Q：It is a creative idea to take filmmakers as the subject shot in a film. How did you come up with it? Is this an experiment to break the fourth wall?
您是通过什么契机想到将艺术家、电影制作者本身作为拍摄对象的呢？这是否是您试图打破第四堵墙的一次新的尝试？
A：In fact, the independent cinema movement in Syria is very stagnant. This is because many routine procedures take a long time to obtain approvals from the security authorities for filming in the city. So in most cases, the filmmakers do not get approval for filming. That is why most film projects die.
In the recent period, after many tiring attempts, I came close to giving up. An independent film production company, Stories Film, obtained approvals for trainees working to develop their skills in a cinematic workshop. This rarely happens! Even the approvals were issued on the pretext that these films were training projects to train filmmakers and develop their skills.
I was one of those trainees in the workshop, and I was developing my short fiction project, and when we learned that approvals had been issued to implement film projects, I gave up the idea of filming my fiction film.
I said to myself, "This is an opportunity to be commended and documented for this event that happens rarely, and also an opportunity to document the city that cannot usually be photographed, through the eyes of a group of filmmakers, by visiting the shooting locations for their films, benefiting from the approvals they have to shoot their films."
This enabled me to document the city and its neighborhoods, streets, and people with a neutral view without interference to give it any political character, unlike most previous films that appeared and spoke about the region here.
So, the film came in its current form to raise a question: who is filming whom? Is it the main director's camera? Or is it the other director's camera? Or is the only girl's camera trying to get a feel for the city again by filming it with a small Handycam?
事实上，叙利亚的独立电影发展非常不景气。因为想要在这里拍摄的话，很多例行程序要花很久才能获得安全部门的许可。大部分情况下，电影制作人们无法得到拍摄许可。这就是大部分电影项目失败的原因。
最近一段时间，在多次辛苦的尝试之后，我几乎都要放弃了。这时野葛独立电影制作公司“Stories Film”获得了批准，允许学员在电影工作室发展自己的技能。这种情况很少见！虽然获批的托词是这些影片都是为了训练电影制作者们以及发展技能而产出的。
我就是这个工作室的受训人员之一，我当时在做自己的短篇小说项目，当我们得知电影项目的批文已经签发时，我放弃了拍摄小说电影的想法。
我对自己说：“这是一个被认可和记录的机会，因为这种事极少发生，而且这也是个机会，可以通过一群电影制作者们的眼睛，通过拜访他们电影的拍摄地点，从他们拍摄电影的批准中受益，记录这座通常不能被拍摄的城市。”
这让我可以以中立视角、不受干涉、没有任何政治性质地记录这座城市和它的社区、街道和人们，这与之前出现并谈论这里的那些影片不同。
所以这部影片以现在的形式出现，并提出这样一个问题：是谁在拍摄谁？这是主导演的摄影机拍的吗？还是另一位导演的？还是，这只是一个女孩试图通过一台小小的数码相机再次感受这座城市呢？
Q：In your opinion, what’s the relationship between filmmakers shot in the documentary, citizens shot by artists, citizens observing artists and yourself?
片中至少包含了四类主体，被拍摄的电影制作者，被电影制作者拍摄的市民，站在镜头外的拍摄者以及观看镜头内外电影制作者的市民，您是如何看待这些不同主体之间的关系的呢？
A：Syria recently experienced a long war. In the last few years, life has gradually begun to return to normal, but unfortunately, pre-war Syria is not what it is now. The city is now bleak and pale, and despite the regular movement of people in the streets, this does not reflect the reality of their inner feeling, And if you look closely at the film scene, you will see the faces are sullen and tired, as is the case with the city. Nevertheless, the residents of this city, or what was left of them, did not stop following their lives and went out to their daily work and activities despite the harsh conditions left by the war, including extreme poverty, high prices, and the lack of most of their daily basic needs.
As for the filmmakers, they are part of these people, but with different natures of their work, which is cinema. Despite the lack of excellent capabilities and the simplest tools, they continued pursuing their dreams of making films. Instead, they went out to film it despite the harsh living conditions. Because this, in their appearance, is an attempt to survive daily in this country. I am a citizen and a filmmaker at the same time and a part of them despite my absence in front of the camera in my apparent form, as many have appeared.
The relationship between everyone is one! We all live in this city. We share the same concerns and the same attempts to survive daily but with different methods for these attempts.
叙利亚最近经历了一场长期战争。在过去的几年时间里，生活逐渐开始回归正常，但不幸的是，战争前的叙利亚可不是现在这个样子。这座城市现在是荒凉又苍白的，虽然街上的人们还是有规律地移动着，这其实不能反映出他们内在的真实感受，而去如果你仔细看影片的场景，你会发现他们的面孔是阴沉且疲惫的，就像这座城市一样。尽管如此，这座城市的居民，或者说是剩下的人们，没有停止他们的生活，仍然出去工作和活动，虽然战争遗留了恶劣的条件，包括极端贫困、高昂的物价，以及大部分日常基本需求的缺乏。
至于电影人们，他们也是其中一员，但是工作性质不同，是电影。即使缺乏优秀的能力和最简单的工具，他们还是继续追求电影梦。尽管生活条件恶劣，他们还是外出拍摄。因为这样，他们露面是为了在这个国家生存下去。我是一名公民，是一名电影人，也是他们的一员，虽然我没有在镜头前很明显地出现，就像其他人那样。
每个人之间的关系是一体的！我们都生活在这座城市中。我们都有同样的担忧，同样都为了生存在尝试着，只不过方法不同。
more information：https://www.bisff.co/selection/summer%2C-city-and-a-camera
Screening schedule：https://www.bisff.co/single-post/bisff-reboot