Nujum al-Nahar (Stars in Broad Daylight). 1988. Syria. Written and directed by Ossama Mohammed. With Zuhair Abdulkarim, Sabah As-Salem, Saad Eddin Baqdoones. North American premiere. In Arabic; English subtitles. 105 min.
Opening with the paradoxical declaration “I am a free man,” Ossama Mohammed’s masterwork uses the microcosm of a rural Syrian family to explore the psychology of life under dictatorship. In a coastal village, the preparations for two weddings become a devastating study of power and control, centered on Abbas, a despotic older brother whose resemblance to Hafez al-Assad is no accident. Mohammed transforms domestic spaces—seen through cracks, dusty windows, and broken mirrors—into a stark visual poetry that reveals how authoritarian violence seeps into society’s most private corners. Banned in Syria after a single screening but celebrated at Cannes, the film draws on influences from Georgian comedy to Federico Fellini while establishing its own powerful visual language. This restoration, from The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, recovers a vital work by a director who, despite living in exile since 2011, continues to probe the complex relationship between beauty, justice, and political repression.
Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in collaboration with Ossama Mohammed. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.