Film: Khutwa Khutwa (Step by Step)

By Kaleem Aftab, Berlin International Film Festival 2013

Ossama Mohammed

I spent so long searching for Ossama Mohammed at the Berlin Film Festival that at times it seemed like I’d found myself living out Zero Dark Thirty by way of Searching for Sugarman. The director has a seeming aversion to email and does not have a mobile phone. He has had two films at the Cannes Film Festival, his 1988 debut Nujum al-Nahar (Stars in Broad Daylight) played in Director’s Fortnight and his 2002 follow-up Sunduq ad-Dunya (Sacrifices) played in the Un Certain Regard section. Stars in Broad Daylight about family troubles that take place during the planning of a wedding, despite never officially playing in Syria is one of the classics of Middle East cinema, so it was with some excitement that I greeted the possibility of meeting the man born in Lattakiya in 1954.

The festival was hosting a rare screening of Mohammed’s first short film, the 1978 documentary Khutwa Khutwa (Step by Step). Shot in 1977, his camera centres on a group of young villagers and the problems they face living in harsh conditions. Mohammed tracks the challenges of finding work, a lack of education, and the end of rural lifestyles as the young want to move to the big city. Shot in black and white it looks beautiful – still photographs are mixed in with the footage –and the interviews and shots of children playing are touching, romantic and pertinent. This tapestry of images weaves together to create a dramatic and tense picture of life in Syria under an oppressive regime. Given the recent turmoil in Syria it’s easy to see why the programmers of the short film section of the festival decided to give this work a special screening, it’s a valuable document about the history of the country and why Civil War was perhaps inevitable.

Trying to find Ossama was proving a difficult task. My first lead was that he would turn up at the short film press office at some point before the screening of his film. I was to keep my phone on, and wait for a call to catch the director. The call did not come. This happened two days in a row. I was told that he was busy editing, perhaps it is a new feature film, but without managing to catch up with him I was left wondering.

Then I received an email from the press office saying I could meet with him at 7pm in front of a cinema screening his film. Unfortunately due to the busy nature of film festivals I was already interviewing another star at that time on the other side of town. We moved the time back by 30 minutes. Yet it was time for more disaster. The interview ran on-and-on, normally a publicist will come and tell you to stop chatting after the allotted half hour but for some reason there was no bang at the door. It seemed rude and abrupt just to stop but when it got to 7.20 pm I announced that I had to run. A jump into town and racing across town was followed by a sprint, but again the director was nowhere to be seen. I sent a flurry of emails to the press officer and all the contacts on the email, and yet absolutely no response. I guess this might be one of those searches that lasts years rather than days.