The town of Busra al-Sham in Dara’a province hosted the second Syria Mobile Phone Film Festival on Wednesday. The festival saw the screening of several films shot with mobile phone cameras that shed light on the Syrian revolution and the suffering of the Syrian people.
The festival, which was held in the historic Busra al-Sham amphitheater, was attended by nearly 200 people, including many journalists and media activists. Maizar Mattar, one of the organizers, said that the festival aims to screen films recorded in many areas inside Syria and to provide a new experience in the world of documentaries.
Mattar said that organizers are planning to screen a number of films in the German capital Berlin on Thursday, adding that they aspire to publicize the festival through reaching out to international and Arab film festivals and to institutions interested in cinematography. He pointed out that the festival aims to provide a cinematic vision that is unique and free, one which advocates that the pictures with the highest resolution are not necessarily the clearest.
Clips via mobile cameras played an important role in the Syrian revolution. Thousands of activists and journalists filmed video footage on their mobile phones to document the events of the uprising. Mobile phones videos became the main tool in the peaceful struggle and freedom of expression against dictatorship, not only in Syria but also across the Arab World.
In 2014, Syria’s Mobile Phone Film Festival screened its films to a local audience in more than twenty cities across Syria. The festival aimed to create a unique platform to support professional and amateur film directors to make creative films with low budgets using mobile cameras.
In addition to cinematic screenings, the festival offers grants, awards and training for the directors through the “Pixel” training program which continued throughout 2015. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
