Did you say Damascus

Marie Seurat was born in Aleppo, in a Christian family. Like many other Syrians facing persecutions under the Assad regime, she left and settled abroad. In France, she embarked on a career as a graphic artist, and more recently as a writer and filmmaker. After a long exile, she returns to Syria. She would like to buy a house, but it is not the right time. A wind of popular revolt is blowing and, wandering the streets of Damascus, she is disorientated by distant memories and the sounds of the present. History rises to the surface, extending to the tragic events of the present time.  Her voice glides over the images, as if composing a letter to her husband, Michel Seurat, killed 30 years ago by Hezbollah in Lebanon. “Giving my hand free rein, I draw the outlines of the different neighbourhoods. Blue for the Christian district. Green for the Muslim. And for the Jewish, it will be orange. 2000 years of history sketched in a moment. That’s how I deal with the shock inflicted by these events, how I get it out of my system” (MS).

Luciano Barisone

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