Les chebabs de Yarmouk
Axel Salvatori-Sinz
France | 2013 | 78 min
World premiere
Language : Arabic
Subtitles : English, French
Ala'a Hassan, Samer, Tasneem and Waed are third-generation Palestinian refugees living in the Syrian camp at Yarmouk. They are part of “Les Chebabs”, a group they formed in their teenage years. With his observant camera in tow, Axel Salvatori-Sinz films these young people haunted by doubts about their future life choices, caught between loyalty to their friends and a desire to take flight, sometimes leaving the others far behind.
Yarmouk is a district of Damascus created in 1957 which accommodates an (unofficial) camp for Palestinian refugees who fled Nakba (1948): concrete towers bristling with antennas, a camp becoming taller and taller... although it is far from reaching for the stars. Hassan, a theatre buff, loves this camp and its terraces overlooking the town; as for Ala'a, he has taken a detour to study film in Chile; Samer is attempting to avoid compulsory service in the Syrian army; and Tasneem and Waed are continuing their education. Les Chebabs du Yarmouk, as they call themselves, are a group of third-generation Palestinian friends. Stuck in a country where they grew up without ever feeling integrated, they dream, smoke, talk and help each other out, all under the gaze of Axel Salvatori-Sinz’s observant camera. The time of the Fedayeen and the nationalist revolution is long gone. The “chebabs” (a term designating young Palestinian fighters) are like a flock of pigeons flying over the rooftops of Yarmouk – a recurring motif in the film. The skies appear to belong to them, and yet their short flight always brings them back to the starting point.
Emmanuel Chicon
Trailer
