Stars in Broad Daylight
Asian Premiere
Ossama Mohammed Syria 1988 105 min NC16 (Some Sexual References)
An allegory of the Ba’athist regime told through the dissolution of the Ghazi family amid wedding chaos.
Set in a coastal village northwest of Damascus, this jewel of Syrian cinema traces the catastrophic dissolution of the Ghazi family as they prepare for a double wedding celebration. Their preparations for the festivities culminate in a pressure cooker of underlying resentments and stifled desires. When bride-to-be Sana inevitably gets cold feet, her humiliated family is forced to venture forth to a chaotic, spiralling city.
A richly layered allegory for the Ba’athist regime, the family is dominated by tyrannical patriarch Abbas whose obsession with power and control over his sister’s marriage mirrors the broader oppressive political landscape. The village and wedding become political theatres to explore the illusion of freedom and belonging under dictatorship.
Told through stark imagery and with terrifying intimacy, Stars in Broad Daylight is a biting polemic against totalitarianism and has never been allowed a public screening in Syria.
Q&A with Filmmaker(s)
1 Dec, Sun 4:30PM / 105 min
Oldham Theatre
AT THE FEST!
All screenings are on a free seating, first-come, first-served basis. We kindly ask all ticket holders to arrive on time to be guaranteed entry.
RUSH QUEUE:
For last-minute attendees, good news. Our Rush Queue is back this year!
Stars in Broad Daylight
Nujim An-Nahar
Ossama Mohammed
Syria
1988
Arabic
English
105 min
NC16 (Some Sexual References)
Asian Premiere
Ossama Mohammed
A pivotal figure in Syria’s film scene, Ossama Mohammed now resides in France after his 2011 exile. His works examine power through diverse modes, from satire to street recordings. Notable films include Sunduq al-dunyâ (2002), which premiered at Cannes, and Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait (2014), an internationally acclaimed documentary on the Syrian civil war.
Zuhair Abdulkarim,
Sabah As-Salem,
Saad Eddin Baqdoones
Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in collaboration with Ossama Mohammed. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
