FILM SCREENINGS

Sacrifices

2002. Syria/France. Written and directed by Oussama Mohammad. With Rafiq Sbeii, Maha Al Saleh, Nihal Al Khatib. A religious and political chronicle of a rural Syrian family, and a mystical allegory of the world's end (and perhaps its rebirth), Sacrifices is filled with unforgettable, painterly compositions, shot in the striking and remote Alawite mountain region of northern Syria, that recall the grand, timeless imagery of Andrei Tarkovsky. Though Mohammad makes oblique reference to contemporary regional conflicts, he avoided Syrian film censors by filling the screen with "startling evocations of the elemental and primal (birth, death, eggs, breast milk, mud). In one unforgettable scene, freckles migrate from a young girl's face to a boy's shoulder" (Toronto Film Festival catalogue). Selected for the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. In Arabic; English subtitles. 112 min.