Yaman
Ajyal Competition
Amer AlBarzawi / Short Narrative / Syria / 2016 / 4 min / Colour / DCP
In Arabic / English subtitles
Interests: Animation, Fantasy, Children
Synopsis
Young and poor, Yaman is a proficient inventor, and he designs a brilliant machine that will take ordinary tissues and transform them into super-tissues that are capable of protecting him like armour. As Yaman creates a solution to his difficult circumstances, he also generates a sense of desperately needed hope. A paean to the power of the imagination, and a cry for help for youngsters living in poverty, ‘Yaman’ is a wonderfully imagined film that cleverly combines live-action and stop-motion elements.
About the Directors
Amer AlBarzawi was born in Damascus in 1987 and grew up in Rukneddine, Syria. He left Syria after the start of the current conflict, and has lived in France since 2017. He is a co-founder of the Majooneh collective, with whom he began to make stop-motion films. ‘Fade to Black’ (2014), their first film, won the Jury Prize at the Toronto Urban Film Festival, and ‘Yaman’ took the Best Short Film Award at the Dhaka International Film Festival. Currently, AlBarzawi is working on films about the traumas and wellbeing of refugees.
Credits
- Director
- Amer AlBarzawi
- Screenwriter
- Amer AlBarzawi
- Producer
- Amer AlBarzawi
- Editor
- Amer AlBarzawi
- Music
- Simon Abou Assali
- Production Company
- Bidayyat for Audiovisual Arts
- Sound
- Simon Abou Assali
- Other
- Animation: Ammar Alkhattab
- Cast
- Yaman Alhalabi