As part of the HUMAN International Documentary Film Festival in Oslo, SPACE organized a screening of Ziad Kalthoum’s award-winning documentary Taste of Cement. The screening was followed by a talk and discussion with Samer Frangie, Assistant Professor in Political Studies at the American University of Beirut. In this short video, Frangine comments on how the “failure of witnessing” transformed…
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Welcome to a lunch seminar co-hosted by the Syrian Peace Action Centre (SPACE) and PRIO, on establishing rights-based guiding principles to discuss reconstructing Syria. Background The war in Syria is far from over. The recent escalation by the Syrian regime and its ally, Russia, against civilians in Eastern Ghouta, and the Turkish military offensive against…
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In collaboration with HUMAN International Documentary Film Festival and Kunstnernes Hus The Film: Taste of Cement A portrait of workers in exile, Taste of Cement is an empathetic encounter with people who have lost their past and their future, locked in the recurring present. A poetic essay documentary about Syrian construction workers building new skyscrapers…
DetailsFor noen måneder siden utvekslet jeg et par e-poster med Bjørgulv Braanen. Jeg spurte ham om Klassekampen faktasjekker de bidragene de mottar til sin debattseksjon, spesifikt med tanke på Syria. Han skrev: «Jeg har valgt å ha veldig vide rammer for hva som kan komme på trykk, med et håp om at debatten vil avklare…
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From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, Aleppo was the most important city in the Ottoman empire boasting an extremely rich and complex history. By universalizing the discussions of Aleppo, Nachar undoes nostalgic historical accounts and demystifies the charming discourse of the ancient oriental city. Like any other city, Aleppo has its entangled worlds and…
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Author of A Shop of One’s Own, Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo, Rabo shares insights from her fieldwork during 1997-2002 in Souk al-Medina (the city’s market) as one of Aleppo’s key social urban institutions. As a site for social interaction and formative human experiences, how do traders and customers interact and define time…
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You know Aleppo as a vast landscape of bombed and burning historic buildings, cratered streets, and endless lines of fleeing, destitute families. But I will tell you about a time when things were different — when Aleppo was my home. Since 2011, Syrians witnessed firsthand the simultaneous rebirth and destruction of their country on every…
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Long before March 2011, Syria was known as the “kingdom of silence”. All forms of artistic and public expression were controlled by the regime, only those who mastered the regime’s censorship rule-book managed to sneak in their subtle message through the many red lines. From the outset of the uprising against tyranny in 2011, public…
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Oslo Dokuemntarkino, Fenris Film, Stray Dog Productions, International Media Support (IMS) and SPACE organized the Oslo premiere of Nizam Najjar’s documentary Aleppo’s Fall. The screening was followed by Q&A with the director Nizam Najjar moderated by Zeina Bali, and a conversation with Karam Nachar moderated by Rasmus Steen. Award-winning film-maker Waad al-Kateab participated via Skype. Below is a…
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In 2016, one of the worst human tragedies took place in Aleppo. After a few months of siege and indiscriminate shelling, tens of thousands of people were evicted from the city. Beyond the horrific scenes of bombardment and forced mass eviction, little reflection has followed on how and why these violations happened and what the…
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