The Syrian film 'Photograph' poses a question that seems simple on the surface but is profound in essence: what remains for a person when places change, days pass, and the details they once thought stable fall away? Objects do not give us our identity, but the memories we attach to them do.

The short fiction film toured several festivals. Recently, it won the 'Peace and Justice' award at the 9th Middle East Film Festival, held last June in The Hague, Netherlands.

'Photograph' highlights the repercussions of the war in Syria and its impact on child labor and deprivation of education to support their families financially. The film was produced by the Syrian General Film Organization, written by Buthaina Nu'aisa, starring Suleiman al-Ahmad, Ghaleb Shandawiya, Jamal al-Ali, and Safouh Mimass, and directed by Mohannad Kalthoum.

The film tells the story of two boys bound by deep friendship, Sultan and Yahya, who wander through their city amid building rubble and remnants of furniture and belongings that bear witness to a life that was here and is no more, while they live in shelter camps. Sultan leads his blind friend Yahya as they collect leftover tools from under the rubble to sell to a merchant for a few liras. While searching through the ruins of Yahya's house, they find a camera belonging to his family. They manage to turn it on and take pictures of each other amidst the collapsed buildings, making these photographic shots a testament to their memories. As Sultan tries to take more photos, the building debris falls on his friend's head.

Director Mohannad Kalthoum says: 'The award the film received confirmed to me that cinema is still capable of opening a dialogue among people regardless of their languages and cultures.' He added to Asharq Al-Awsat that the true value of any award lies in the question it raises: why did this film reach people? 'From its beginning, “Photograph” was not seeking sympathy or condemning anyone; rather, it tried to get close to the human being when forced to hold on to what remains of his memory and dignity. So I felt that the award's name met the spirit of the film,' as he put it.

The two heroes of the Syrian film 'Photograph' (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Kalthoum explains: 'Hiding the camera behind the characters was my biggest obsession during filming. I was looking for an image that breathes quietly, for light that resembles life, for places that bear the marks of time without speaking. I did not want a beautiful image as much as I wanted an honest image, because honesty remains in the viewer's memory more than any visual dazzle. That is why I always say that “Photograph” is not a film about war, but about the human being resisting oblivion, because what scares a person most is not losing his home but losing his story.'

The 'Peace and Justice' award crowns a journey the film has taken through several Arab and international festivals, where it won multiple awards. But Mohannad Kalthoum does not view these participations as a race but as a journey in which the film changes with each audience that watches it. He says: 'Sometimes I would leave the screening room feeling that the audience discovered in the film something I was not aware of, and this is one of the most beautiful surprises of cinema. That is why I do not like to measure the film's success by the number of awards, but by the number of times it managed to leave a silent impact on the viewer's heart after the screen goes dark.'

Kalthoum explains the reason for choosing the film's title 'Photograph': 'I was looking for a title that does not describe the film but opens a door to enter it. For me, the photograph is a memory that resists time. Sometimes a single image suffices to carry an entire life and bring back to us people and places that no longer exist except inside us. From here the film was born.'

Syrian director Mohannad Kalthoum (Asharq Al-Awsat)

'Photograph' carries a clear human dimension, and it seems as if it is putting memory on trial. But Kalthoum affirms that 'I do not see memory as a place we escape to whenever we miss the past, but rather as the place where we protect our humanity from oblivion. Therefore, memory in “Photograph” was not a space for nostalgia but a space for contemplation and re-questioning,' according to him.

Kalthoum confirms that he dealt with the script as a space for dialogue between the writer's vision and his own vision as a director. He says: 'It mattered to me that every scene becomes closer to the characters and more capable of expressing through image and silence, not words. I translated this feeling into a quiet visual language that leaves the viewer space to feel more than what is told to him, because I believe that the best films are those that trust the recipient's feeling and do not impose a single interpretation.'

On Syrian cinema and whether it has moved beyond the war to ask questions about identity, Kalthoum says: 'I believe that Syrian cinema today stands before an important opportunity to rediscover itself, not because the war is over, but because cinema cannot remain captive to the event forever. The real challenge today is not to tell what happened, but to understand what it left inside the human being.'

Mohannad Kalthoum has presented numerous fiction and documentary works that have participated in international festivals and won many international awards. Among his fiction films are 'Why,' 'Yalla Let's Play,' 'On the Roof of Damascus,' and 'Hope, Faith, Love.' His documentaries include 'Al-Barzakh,' 'The Journey of Syrian Silk,' and 'This Land.' He is the founder of the 'Yalla Cinema' project and the 'Damascus Cinema Days' festival for children and youth films.