Comparative views: Aleppo, Beirut, Alexandria, Kirkuk. Historical and intimate portraits, November 21-24, 2022

From November 21 to 24, 2022 (program below)
Auditorium de l'Inalco - 65, rue des grands moulins 75013 Paris
Entrée gratuite

10ème édition des Regards comparés

Four cities linked to the Mediterranean, ancient and contemporary metropolises, maritime or land capitals, part of the "dreamed Levant" or a "fantasized Orient", will be the focus of this tenth edition of Regards comparés du Jean Rouch International Festival.

Through a loop beginning and ending with the land, while passing by the sea, unfolds the jumble of religions and cultures, traditions, souks, citadels and maritime trade, which, alongside the modern exploitation of oil deposits, has not ceased to attract foreign cinematic eyes from the earliest years of cinema.
From colonial reportage to more personal and contemporary ethnographic documentaries or fictions, these Regards comparés will offer over four days a geographical and historical journey crossing points of view coming as much from the outside as from the inside, and giving the opportunity to discover the social, cultural and political stakes of these cities through the testimonies of their townspeople from all walks of life.

From cosmopolitan living together to the armed conflicts that have shaken these regions for over a hundred years, the festival team invites you, in the company of a number of directors and speakers, to discover through these screenings-debates portraits of the inhabitants of these four cities, bearers of a composite heritage and symbolic riches. From monograph to collective memory, from trace to tribute, the selected films showcase women and men who take up the camera, record their neighborhoods, streets, museums or gardens and share, with intimacy, their life stories.

About the programming

This edition of Compared Views was a challenge for us. What is it about their past and recent past that makes us associate the cities of Aleppo, Beirut, Alexandria and Kirkuk beyond their different geographical locations? Two of them lie along the Egyptian and Lebanese coasts of the Mediterranean, while the other two are inland in Syria and Iraq. All four, like many others, have in common the fact that they were at the heart of the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire, and then of the geostrategic and economic stakes - including oil - of the French and British colonial occupations during their mandate. At the end of the Second World War, they will have to grapple with the upheavals engendered by the Cold War, such as the rise of nationalism and, more recently, identity-based demands, as well as religious extremism.

Without focusing on images of conflict, some are nevertheless present in some of the films programmed, which embrace more than a century of cinema and reveal more, with an element of intimacy, the filiations, destinies, expectations and even dreams of the inhabitants of the day before yesterday, yesterday and today of each of these four cities.

The programming committee:

• Il-Il Yatziv-Malibert, professor of Hebrew linguistics at Inalco and member of CERMOM
• Pauline Tucoulet, doctoral student in film studies at Sorbonne Nouvelle University, member of Ircav, lecturer at Inalco and Sorbonne Nouvelle
• Laurent Pellé, General Delegate of the Jean Rouch International Festival, Ethnographic Film Committee

Programming

Monday, November 21 - Aleppo

2pm - 3:30pm: Vestiges, yesterday and today

• Le Général Gouraud en Syrie, France | 1921 | 9 min | black and white | silent, SCA-SPCA (section cinématographique de l'armée), cameraman Marcel Carrouée, Fond ECPAD
• Alep ville de Syrie, France | 1920 | 1 min 47 | black and white | silent, Pathé (Pathé revue rurale), Documentary
• Aleppo city of Syria, France | 1930-1939 | 11 min 33 | black and white | silent, Pathé (Pathé CM), News

Discussion (first part)

• Revisiting Bimaristan Arghoun, Lebanon | 2021 | 22 min | Vof, Houda Kassatly (Lebanon)

Discussion (second part)

3:45pm - 5:30pm: Albums of a last journey

• Retour à Alep, France | 1998 | 46 min | Vostf, Marie Seurat (Syria)
• Alep Terminal, France | 2017 | 32 min | Vosta, Zalfa Seurat (Lebanon, France)

Discussion

18h - 20h: Two voices from Aleppo

• Halab... Magamat al-Masra | Aleppo, Magams for Pleasure, Syria | 1998 | 52 min | Vostf, Mohamad Malas (Syria)
• I Have Seen Nothing, I Have Seen All | Je n'ai rien vu, j'ai tout vu, Syria, Lebanon | 2019 | 20 min | Vostfr, Yaser Kassab (Syria)

Discussion

Tuesday, November 22 - Beirut

1:30 pm - 3 pm: First images

• Souk Abou-el-Nassahr, France | 1897 | 1 min | black and white | silent, Alexandre Promio, operator of Frères Lumières (France)
• Place des Canons, France | 1897 | 1 min | black and white | silent, Alexandre Promio, operator of Frères Lumières (France)
• The French in Lebanon: from Tripoli d'Asie to Beirut, France | 1919 | 11 min | black and white colorized | silent, SCA (Service cinématographique de l'armée), Fond ECPAD
• Beirut, General Hamelin disembarking from the "Waldeck-Rousseau", France | 1919 | 5 min 52 | black & white colorized | silent, SCA (Service cinématographique de l'armée), Fond ECPAD
• Beyrouth, France | 1922 | 42 min 22 | black & white | silent, Pathé (Pathé CM), Actualité

Discussion

3pm - 5:15pm: Quand le cinéma de fiction révèle l'histoire

• Il était une fois Beyrouth, France | 1994 | 100 min | vostf, Jocelyne Saab (Liban)

Discussion

17h30 - 19h: Du passé faisons table rase...

• Enfants de Beyrouth, France | 2017 | 59 min | vostf, Sarah Srage (Lebanon)

Discussion

19:30 - 21:30: Reconciling opposites

• Zeinab al-moto | La Fille au scooter, France | 2019 | 81 min | vostf, Dima el-Horr (Lebanon)

Discussion

Wednesday, November 23 - Alexandria

2pm - 3:45pm: First images

• Embarquement, France | 1897 | 1 min | black and white | silent, Alexandre Promio, operator of Frères Lumières (France)
• Place Méhémet Ali, France | 1897 | 1 min | black & white | silent, Alexandre Promio, Frères Lumières operator (France)
• Arrival of the Ramleh train, France | 1897 | 1 min | black & white | silent, Alexandre Promio, Frères Lumières operator (France)
• Alexandria, France | 1928 | 1 min 30 | black & white | silent, Pathé (Pathé Revue), Documentary
• Alexandria (Egypt), France | 1930 | 1 min 30 | black & white | silent, Pathé (Villes et Monuments)
• Vues Alexandrie, France | 1954 | 40 sec | black & white | silent, Pathé (Unused), Journal Actualité

Discussion (first part)

Who have you been Alexandria? Nostalgia, remembrance...

• The Ghosts of Alexandria, France | 1986 | 17 min | Vof, Jocelyne Saab (Lebanon)
• Alexandrie, France | 1999 | 45 min | Vof, Serge Moati (France)

Discussion (part two)

4pm - 5:30pm: Who are you, Alexandria? Under the pen of writers.

• Mafish Durrel, France | 2003 | 52 min | Vof, Nicolas Barrié (France)

Discussion

18h - 21h30 : Not long ago, Alexandria was bursting with vitality

• Oh the night! - Mafrouza 1, France | 2007 | 137 min | Vostf, Emmanuelle Demoris (France)

Discussion

Thursday, November 24 - Kirkuk

1:30 pm - 3:45 pm: History - Iron Colossi and Cerberi of Peace

• A pennant, a self-gunning machine, France | 1940 | 7 min | silent | SCA Service Cinématographique des Armées, Fond ECPAD (France)

Discussion (first part)

• Return to Kirkuk: A Year in the Fire, UK | 2006 | 90 min | Vosta, Kae Bahar (Iraq, UK)

Discussion (second part)

4pm - 5:45pm : Urban views, communities and "çayxanê"

• A dark corner, Iraq, France | 2009 | 16 min | Vostf, Sama Qadr (Iraq)
• Living together in Kirkuk, Iraq, France | 2011 | 14 min | Vostf, Ardalan Gharib (Iraq)
• Amal's Garden, USA, Iraq | 2012 | 33 min | Vosta, Nadia Shihab (USA)

Discussion

18h - 19h15 : Her Father's Country

• Back to Iraq, Netherlands | 2014 | 52 min | Vosta, Anne Dilven (Netherlands)

Discussion

19h45 - 21h30: La Chanson de ses mères

• Broken Record | Qawana, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Iraq | 2013 | 75 min | Vosta, Parine Jaddo (Iraq)

Discussion