Ladder to Damascus
Spring Grant 2011 - Production Stage
Current project status: COMPLETED
Mohamad Malas / Feature Narrative / Syria, Lebanon, Qatar / 97 min / Colour / Original Language: Arabic / Interests: Drama, Romance, Social Issues, Fantasy, Women Interest
Synopsis
Ghalia moves to Damascus to study acting and rents a room in a traditional courtyard house, where other young Syrians from different regions also live. She meets Fouad, an aspiring filmmaker who is fascinated by her ambiguity. Within the confines of the house their love story blossoms, while outside, the streets are embattled with the revolution.
Credits
- Director
- Mohamad Malas
- Screenwriter
- Mohamad Malas, Samer Mohamad Ismail
- Producer
- Georges Schoucair
About the Director
Mohamad Malas was born in 1945 in Quneitra on the Golan Heights. He is a prominent Syrian filmmaker and has directed several documentary and feature films that garnered international recognition. He is among the first auteur filmmakers in Syrian cinema. He directed his first feature film, ‘Ahlam al-Madina’ (Dreams of the City), in 1983. The autobiographical coming-of-age film received the first prize both at the Valencia and the Carthage Film Festivals.
Production Company Profile
Abbout Productions produces feature films and documentaries with a distinctly Arab voice, expressing the identity of the region. Since 1998, the company has managed to bring together an important network of Arab and Lebanese artists, and produced award-winning films such as Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige’s ‘A Perfect Day’ (2005), ‘I Want to See’ (2008), and ‘The Lebanese Rocket Society’ (2012); Ghassan Salhab’s ‘The Last Man’ (2006) and ‘The Valley’ (2014); Georges Hashem’s ‘Stray Bullet’ (2010); Hany Tamba’s ‘Melodrama Habibi’ (2007); Mohamad Malas’s ‘Ladder to Damascus’ (2013); Vatche Boulghourjian’s ‘Tramontane’ (2016); Rana Eid's ‘Panoptic’ (2017); Mohamed Siam’s ‘Amal’ (2017); and Badih Massaad and Antoine Waked’s ‘A Certain Nasser’ (2017). Abbout Productions has a strong partnership with MC Distribution, a company dedicated to promoting new films from the Middle East along with direct and priority access to the sole art-house theatre in Lebanon, Metropolis Cinema. The company’s main objective remains to help structure Lebanese and Arab cinema craft into a solid industry.
Awards and Festival History
Festivals
Dubai International Film Festival 2013, in the Muhr Arab Feature Cateogry (UAE)