Paper short abstract:

An illustrated presentation exploring the making of, and strategies around distribution during the pandemic, of the documentary film Ayouni – (Dir Yasmin Fedda, 2020) on forcible disappearance in Syria.

Paper long abstract:

An illustrated presentation exploring the making of the documentary film Ayouni – (Dir Yasmin Fedda, 2020) on forcible disappearance in Syria. Using and unearthing a variety of source materials, spanning 15 years, from 4K footage, mini DV, phone footage, and online archives. The process of making this film reflects how you deal with a violence that cannot be seen nor touched and that is purposefully hidden. What can film do with real violence – forced disappearance – when it permeates deeply? When you try to film a reality, it can mutate, it can change as you try to understand it. The effects of the violence of forced disappearance are messy, and so is its onscreen version. In 2011 Bassel Safadi was a successful open source developer and hacker in Damascus. Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, was a well-known priest based in Mar Musa monastery. Both active in the revolution in 2011, they were witnesses to crimes and aggression before they were forcibly disappeared. The film charts both their stories, alongside those of human rights lawyer Noura Ghazi Safadi, wife of Bassel, and Paolo’s sister Machi Dall’Oglio, as they search for answers. With no information to anchor their limbo, hope is the only thing they can hold on to. This paper will reflect on the processes of research, archive, film practice, and the attempts to use film as a way to keep those disappeared present, and the strategies for releasing this film with impact aims during the pandemic of 2020.