BACK

Yazan Rabee

A chase, footsteps closing in; as you approach your house, it moves further away. This is a recurring nightmare, shared by many Syrians who have fled their homeland. At night they find themselves back in their hometowns, running, chased by invisible men. They’re looking for a safe place that they can never reach. BACK dives into this nightmare to examine where it stems from. Did the trauma start at the protests against Bashar al-Assad, like it did for director Yazan Rabee? Or do we have to go back further, to the terror during the reign of Bashar’s father, Hafez al-Assad? The result is an opressive visual essay about mortal agony and trauma. 

This short film has been part of the programme Shorts: Facing the Past at the Movies that Matter Festival 2023.

Credits

Director
Yazan Rabee
Producer
Laura Verduijn, Philippe Avendaño Vera
Year
2022
Country of production
Netherlands, The
Type
Documentary, Short
Duration
7 minutes
Spoken language
Arabic
Subtitles
EN
Dutch distributor
Stichting Prospektor