This festival was previously performed in Denmark in August 2018 in 5 Danish cities and cinemas. It was very successful under the direction of the director Mazen Haj Kassem, and now has come from Norway to Sweden.

Before the war, Syria was a peaceful country with a complex and diverse cultural life. People drank beer in the sun, took to the beach just like in Sweden, and generally lived in ways that were not so different to us. However, the war came, and Syria has since been mentioned daily as only a place of war, refugees and other devastations.

Syrian film days aim to show the diversity of Syrian culture through new current films made by Syrians. The films span many subjects. They provide an insight into a varied and rich culture and an insight into film art from a part of the world, which we are very touched with but know little about. The target audience for the project is all film-enthusiasts in Sweden, who wants to know more about Syrian film art and about Syrian culture.

The film days will take place in Malmö and Stockholm) in Sweden, with the presence of some Syrian  actors and directors (which are still to be determined) on the opening day.

Mazen Haj Kassem
The initiator is Mazen Haj Kassem, a Syrian actor. He is educated at The Dramatic High School in Damascus in 2012 and got his breakthrough in 2013 in one of the main roles in the television series Taht Samaa Al-Watan (in English: Under the Sky of the Homeland) that was about the war and in 2013 was shown throughout the Middle East. He has also written and directed a number of short films in Syria. and has, among other things, played a part in The Neil Hilton in Denmark, which was recorded in the Film City in Aarhus in 2016.