Tadmor
DIRECTORS MONIKA BORGMANN & LOKMAN SLIM | AUTHOR MONIKA BORGMANN | DOC | 01:43 | LEBANON/FRANCE/SWITZERLAND/QATAR/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | COPRODUCTION WITH UNLIMITED FRANCE / UMAM PRODUCTIONS LEBANON/RTS/DOHA FILM INSTITUTE
Eight former Lebanese detainees recall the years they spent in Syria’s notorious Tadmor Prison. There, the systematic torture has just one goal: the physical and psychological destruction of the detainees. In Tadmor, the men tell a story of shared suffering. Yet each man has a unique perspective and a particular set of experiences; only he knows the secret to his own survival. In Tadmor, the men reenact their narratives physically, as words cannot fully describe the torture, pain, fear and humiliation they experienced.
Tadmor tackles the issue of human capacities in the face of barbarism, resistance and termination. The film is an ode to the human ability to survive. A story of hope and survival.
Author : Monika Borgmann
Directors : Monika Borgmann & Lokman Slim
Cinematography : Talal Khoury
Editing : Olivier Zuchuat
Sound : Rawad Hobeika, Rayan Obeydine, Chadi Roukoz
Sound editing : Benjamin Benoit
Mix : Denis Séchaud
Colorgrading : Yov Moor
Original music : Pierre Jodlowski
Monika Borgmann
Director Monika Borgmann was born in Germany. From 1990 – 2000, she worked in the Middle East as a freelance journalist for German radio and press. In 2001, she co-founded UMAM Productions (with Lokman Slim), which was followed in 2004 by UMAM Documentation and Research (UMAM D&R), a Lebanese NGO that works on issues related to the country’s civil violence and wartime memories.
Borgmann and Slim co-wrote and co-directed the award-winning documentary Massaker (2005), which focuses on six of the men who took part in the infamous Sabra and Shatila massacres (1982).
Lokman Slim
Co-director Lokman Slim was born in Lebanon. After founding the Dar al-Jadeed publishing house in 1988, he ran the company until 2000 as a publisher/writer. In 2001, Slim co-founded UMAM Productions (with Monika Borgmann), which was followed in 2004 by UMAM Documentation and Research (UMAM D&R), a Lebanese NGO that works on issues related to the country’s civil violence and wartime memories. Slim and Borgmann co-wrote and co-directed the award-winning documentary Massaker (2005), which focuses on six of the men who took part in the infamous Sabra and Shatila massacres (1982).
PRESS RELEASE – Murder of Lokman Slim
Exorciser le martyre des prisonniers de la prison de Palmyre, Jean Perret (FR)
SRF – Kulturplatz, March 1 2017 (DE)
Le Monde, February 16 2017 (FR)
OrientXXI, December 29 2016 (FR)
Die Zeit, October 10 2016 (DE)
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, September 11 2016 (DE)
Filmexplorer, June 3, 2016 (FR)
Babylone – RTS Espace 2 – April 18, 2016 (FR) | Interview with Monika Borgmann (director) and Gabriela Bussmann (co-producer)
Festivals
2016: Human Rights Film Festival, Zürich (Switzerland)
2016: Rencontres internationales des cinémas arabes, Marseille (France)
2016: Mostra ForumDoc, Belo Horizonte (Brésil)
2016: Festival International du Film d’Histoire, Pessac (France)
2016: JCC – Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage, Tunis (Tunisia)
2016: Jihlava Festival International du Film Documentaire (République Tchèque)
2016: Days of Cinema – Film Lab Palestine, Ramallah (Palestine)
2016 : Filmfest Hamburg – Veto! Section (Germany)
2016: War on Screen (France)
2016: Adana Film Festival (Turkey)
2016: Latinarab – International Competition (Argentina)
2016 : Visions du Réel – International Competition (Switzerland)
Awards
2016: Prix Bernard-Landier du Jury Lycéen | Festival International du Film d’Histoire
2016: The Political Film of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung | Filmfest Hamburg
Jury’s statement
2016: Special mention of the Jury of the International Competition | Visions du Réel
2016: Sesterce d’argent SRG SSR most innovative Swiss feature film | Visions du Réel
Jury’s deliberations
