Ammar al-Beik: Behind the success story of ‘They were Here’

In April 19, Syrian lovers of visual art will be on a date to attend a new photograph exhibition for the works of renowned Syrian photographer and filmmaker Ammar al-Beik at Ayyam Gallery.

His five earlier photography exhibitions were held from 1996-2001 at the Cervantes Cultural Center and the Goethe Cultural Center in Damascus; The Cultural Youth Club in Tunisia; and two photographic biennials in Switzerland and Italy.

In 1990, Damascus-born Beik enrolled at the School for Business Administration at the University of Damascus. He left the program shortly after, and went to work at Studio Haig that specializes in the repair of cameras for still photography and cinema. He also began to work with photography and participated in numerous exhibitions and competitions worldwide. His first video, “Boulevard al-Assad” was produced in 2001, as the outcome of the “Transit Visa” workshop organized in Beirut. He made a number of short films, including “Uthuni Tastate‘ An Tasma‘” (My Ear Can Hear, 2001), “Inahum Kanu Huna” (They Were Here, 2001), and “‘Indama Ulawwen Samakati” (When I Color My Fish, 2002) co-directed with Hanadi el-‘Omari. In 2002 he also directed his first long film, the experimental documentary “Clakette” (Clapper).

Beik has also worked as a cinematographer and editor on a number of documentaries and fiction features, including Lebanese filmmaker Mahmoud Hojeij’s “The Silent Majority” in 2002. He was assistant director to Mohammad Malas for “Bab al-Maqam” (Passion, 2004). Recently he collaborated closely with Hala al-Aballah Yakoub on her first feature length film, “Repérages de l’amour et de la mort” (Location Scouting for Love and Death) as director, cinematographer, and editor. Beik’s short Filmography has earned him a few awards: “They Were Here” received the Jury Prize at the Ismai‘liya International Festival (Egypt) in 2001; and “When I Color My Fish” received the Jury Prize at the Brisbane International Film Festival (Australia) in 2002.

His films really speak to what he endeavors to create: a place where anyone, despite their religion, can come and communicate. In “Deir Mar Moussa,” Beik investigates the outskirts of Damascus, and reveals the inhabitants of this isolated monastery, and what has brought them here, revealing a polyglot community that’s simple yet surprisingly social and connected to the world.

Alongside the monks’ discussions of daily rituals, globalization and Islamic-Christian dialogue, Beik makes explicit the dialogue between camera and subject, and the filmmaker's own rituals and sacred objects. The result is a canny, often funny exploration of faith and devotion in the modern world. The film focused on the experience of Italian father Paolo, who, in fluentArabic, described why he is in that place, “My ambition is to experience a hope inspired by God, that got its roots in our humanism that we can share through ‘this meeting adventure.’ This meeting cannot take place outside a spiritual context. This place provides for us, Christians and for all visitors, mainly Muslims, the atmosphere that returns us to the basis and aims of any dialogue.”

In “They Were Here,” Beik created, in his words, “a ghostly, eloquent portrait of an abandoned steam-engine plant and the men who labored there for four decades.” Focusing on simple people who only care to earn their daily bread and are always grateful to their almighty God in their after work mosque rituals, the film won many prizes: World Wide Video Festival, Amsterdam, 2000 San Francisco Arab Film Festival, 2001, and Pacific Cinematheque, Vancouver, 2001, among many others.