Syrian Dessert & a Movie: "The Day I Lost My Shadow" with filmmaker Soudade Kaadan
Artists and Scholars at Risk
October 16, 2024 - 7:30-9:00pm
University of Pittsburgh William Pitt Union Assembly Room – 3959 Fifth Ave
As winter hits hard in Syria, all Sana wants is to cook a hot meal for her son. When a seemingly simple errand – a search for gas – goes awry, Sana is dragged deeper into the war, where people lose their shadows.
The Day I Lost My Shadow premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2018 and won the Lion of the Future Award for Best Debut Film. It made history for being the first Syrian fiction film to win in Venice, and was screened at many festivals including TIFF, BFI London, Busan and IFFR. The film has garnered many other awards, including the World Fiction Special Jury Prize for Best Direction at the LA Film Festival (2018), Official Selection at the Valencia Film Festival (2019), Best Feature Fiction Award at the Karama Human Rights Film Festival (2018), Best Feature at the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival (2019), and Best Film at the Joburg Film Festival (2018).
is an award-winning Syrian film director and screenwriter, born in France and based in London. She started her career in documentary filmmaking in Syria before the war, and subsequently gained international recognition with her debut feature fiction film, The Day I Lost My Shadow. Her short fiction film Aziza won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2019, and her second feature film Nezouh (backed by BFI/Film4/Starlight) won the Armani Beauty Audience Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2022, making her the only Arab woman director to win twice in Venice. Kaadan often intertwines elements of magical realism with stark realism, creating powerful narratives that are both deeply personal and grounded, but also universally resonant. She is currently working on her much-awaited third feature fiction film.
Join us to view The Day I Lost My Shadow, engage in an in-person discussion with Soudade Kaadan, and enjoy delicious desserts catered by our friends at local Syrian restaurant Ali Baba. This event will be moderated by ASAR fellow Reem Al-Ghazzi.
The event is free but seating is limited; .
This event is co-sponsored by The Humanities Scholars Program Diane and Bradford Smith Family Fund, The Humanities Center, The Sustainability Initiative, The Center for Black European Studies and the Atlantic, and the Artists and Scholars at Risk Program.