The films of Mohammad Malas have been termed "visual poetry" by a number of critics and artists. Like no other, Malas represents the Syrian auteur Cinema. Born in 1945 in the town of Quneitra in the Golan, he grew up under the impression of the many wars and conflicts in he region, something that was to play a central role in his later work.
After having worked for three years as a teacher in Damascus while styudying at the Faculty of Philosophy, Malas received a scholarship to study film making at the renowned Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). After his graduation in 1974, he returned to Syria where he gained a name as a critical and socially angaged film maker. He recived wide international acclaim for his feature and documentary films and won a number of awards at film festivals around the world. Among his most important films are "Dreams of the City" (1983) and "The Night" (1992) which is set his home town Quneitra and based on auto-biographical motifs, as well as "The Dream", a documentary that was shot in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila in Beirut shortly before the terrible massacres of 1982 during which large numbers of the inhabitants were killed.
Since his graduation project from film school in Moscow ("Everybody is in his Place and Everything is Under Control, Sir Officer"), a collaoration with the Egyptian writer Sun'allah Ibrahim, the themes of personal freedom and oppression play a major role in the oeuvre of Mohammad Malas.
Schedule:
Passion (2005), 98 min, Thur. 4th Nov, 8 pm, Babylon
Double feature, Fri. 5th, 6.00 pm, Babylon:
The Dream (1981), 45 min
On the Sand, Under the Sun (1998 co-directed with Hala Abdallah), 32 min
Dreams of the City (1983), 120 min, Sat. 6th, 8.30 pm, Eiszeit
Double feature, Sun. 7th, 2.30 pm, Eiszeit :
Lights and Shadows (1994 co-directed with Oussama Mohammad and Omar Amiralay), 52 min
Aleppo Maqams for Pleasure (1999), 52 min
The Night (1992), 125 min, Sun. 7th, 8 pm, Babylon
Venues:
Babylon Cinema: Rosa Luxemburg Strasse 30, D-10178 Berlin (Mitte)
Eiszeit Cinema: Zeughofstrasse 20, -10997 Berlin (Kreuzberg)
