DIRECTOR: Ossama Mohamed & Wiam Simav Bedirxan | France / Syria | 2014 | 93min
A searing concoction of eye-witness video and intimate correspondence, Silvered Water is impossible to ignore, even in an media-saturated time numbed to the horrors pouring from the world’s forgotten conflicts. Assembled from ‘1001’ phone videos captured by Syrian civilians in the midst of an unimaginable nightmare, exiled filmmaker Ossama Mohamed sends desperate emails to his collaborator and muse, Simav who is trapped in the besieged city of Homs. Even more heart-rending than the graphic violence are moments of purest beauty: in the midst of rubble that was once his city, a little boy picks mulberries with the joy of all children discovering the world. In this master-piece, not only of cinema but 21st century activism, we too will discover the world, never to be the same again.
Festival Appearances
Cannes, Toronto IFF, IDFA, New York FF, BFI London FF, CPH:DOX
Screenings at Encounters 2015
CT: Fri 12 8.30pm CN V&A
Jozi: Fri 12 8.45pm Bio