Bio:
Yaser Kassab is an award-winning filmmaker and producer based in Stockholm.
He holds a Master's degree in film from Gothenburg University, with a focus on representational issues.
Known for his documentary film trilogy that spans over a decade, and offers a personal and poetic perspective on the Syrian tragedy. His trilogy have screened globally at prestigious festivals including Arte Venice Biennale, Cinema Du reel, Vision du reel, IDFA, RIDM, Festival Dei Popoli, Cairo international film festival, Carthage international Film festival, and other, and gained many awards.
Filmography:
“Chasing The Dazzling Light” 63 Min, 2023, World premiere at IDFA
“I Have seen Nothing I have seen All” 20Min, 2019, premiered at 50° Vision Du Reel
“On The Edge Of Life” 45Min, 2017, Premiered at 39° of Cinema Du reel
Collaboration:
Film Colorist "The Last Spring" by Alaa Shanana 2024
Film Colorist, audio mixing in film “ paradise Water” Deborah Elgeholm
Created a short promotional video about Bangladesh for the Bangladeshi Embassy in Stockholm in 2022.
Film Colorist for a short promotional video by the International Rescue Committee UK 2022.
Colourist in "My mother's island" (20 min) by Kaya Pakaslahti, 2021
Editor in "Strikingly Human" a Swedish short documentary by Uta Arning, 2019.
Cameraman and editor for TV reportages with a German TV, 2018.
Video Journalist for a TV show for children, in collaboration with DW TV.
CHASING THE DAZZLING LIGHT | 2023
Duration: 63 min documentary
Production Country: Syria, Sweden and Qatar 2023
Written & Directed by: Yaser Kassab
Producer: Rima Alhamedd
Production Company: Zenloop productions
Creative Adviser/ Co-writer: Rima Alhamedd
Synopsis:
Director Yaser Kassab followed in his father’s footsteps by emigrating as a young man from Syria to Europe, and like his father he also had the ambition to become a filmmaker. Now they are working together on this film remotely. From Syria, the father gives his son direction on the phone or in video calls, along with advice about future film projects or how to organise his life—loving conversations interspersed with well- intentioned parental advice.
This at times leads to amusing or uncomfortable scenes, while the film creates a beautiful portrait of a father in absence—a man who can't be with his son, like so many Syrians who are separated from their offspring, whether by distance or death. Father and son live with a certain loneliness; for the refugee filmmaker, this arises from his attempts to build a new life with his wife within the confines of Sweden’s stricter new immigration laws.
Screenings:
World Premiere: Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival IDFA.
Dok Fest Munchen
Jean Rouch Flm festival Paris
Arte Venice Biennale
Awards:
The Best First Feature at IDFA
The best Feature film at Oran International Arab film festival 2024.
Reviews:تجربة مثيرة عن فيلم يصنعه الابن والأب: (مطاردة الضوء المبهر): ياسر قصاب على خطى والده
“مطاردة الضوء المبهر”.. عائلة تتوارث الحنين من المنفى البارد إلى دفء حلب
I HAVE SEEN NOTHING I HAVE SEEN ALL | 2019
Duration: 19 min documentary
Production Country: Syria, Lebanon and Sweden 2019
Written & Directed by: Yaser Kassab
Producer: Mohamad Ali Atassi & Yaser Kassab
Production Company: Bidayyat for Audiovisual arts & Zenloop productions
Film Editor: Rima Alhamedd
Sound Mix: Bertrand Larrieu
Synopsis:
After talking about the end of the war in Syria and the start of the reconstruction phase, thousands of kilometers separate Yaser in Sweden from his parents in Aleppo. When both find themselves compelled to transfer the grave of the younger brother from the public park.
Screenings:
World premiere, 50th edition of Vision du reel, official competition, April 2019
Mediteran film festival
Open city documentary festival
Carthage film festival Oct 2019
Festival dei popoli Nov 2019
Escales Documentaires nov 2019
IDFA, paradox Nov 2019
Cairo international film festival
London short film festival
AFLAM 6e Rencontres Internationales de Cinéma.
PCMMO - Panorama des cinémas du Maghreb et du Moyen-Orient
Toronto Arab film festival.
Leiden Shorts
Syrian Doc days, Copenhagen
Sharjah art foundation
Awards:
Best short documentary, Sharjah film platform.
Reviews:
- In Arabic
"لم أرَ شيئاً، رأيتُ كلّ شيء": حين تصبح المقابر السورية "كومبليه" ندى الأزهري
- Lost outside time/ Francesca Borri
ON THE EDGE OF LIFE | 2017
Duration: 45 Min documentary
Production Country: Syria and Lebanon 2017
Written & Directed by: Yaser Kassab & Rima Alhamedd
Production Company: Zenloop productions
Sound Mix: Bertrand Larrieu
Synopsis:
Yaser transcendent from a remote and an empty rest stop in Turkey the process of mourning after losing his younger brother in Aleppo, a relationship with his father has been evolved to a strong emotional connection, although the noisy voice calls and messages.
Screenings:
World premiered, Cinema du reel film festival in the 39th edition ,Paris, March 2017,
South America premiere , Festival EDOC - Encuentros del Otro Cine, in the 16 th edition, Quito, May, 2017
Festival Silhouette, in the the16th edition, Paris, August 2017
Italian premiere, Festival dei Popoli at the 58th edition in the official selection international competition, Florence- Italy October 2017
Official competition at the 15th edition of Tirana international film festival, Nov 2017
Official competition at the 11th edition of Pravo ljudski film festival, Nov 2017
Dutch premiere, IDFA in its 28th edition, paradox section, Nov 2017
North America premiere, RIDM in it's 20th edition, Short and Medium-Length Competition, Nov 2017
At the 18th edition of Le Mois du Film Documentaire
Karama 8's official nominees for the Arab Network for Human Right Film Festivals (ANHAR)
The 13th edition of Hors Pistes festival Jan 2018
Nordic premiere at Tempo documentary film festival March, 2018
Gabes Film Festival in the short film competition, March 2018
Beirut art centre june 2018
Festival des cinémas arabes, documentary competition, Paris, july 2018
BIFED - Bozcaada International Festival of Ecological Documentary, Oct 2018
Arabisches Filmfestival, Tübingen 2018
Le Festival du Film de Famille, Nov 2018
La Cinémathèque de Toulouse, May 2021
Awards:
Joris Ivens | CNAP Prize, which goes to a film of the First International Competition in Cinema du reel film festival.
Best Mid-Length Documentary Award, in the 58th edition of Festival dei Popoli.
Best documentary and Best mid-length documentary at the 15th edition of Tirana Film Festival.
Prix du jury du 13ème Festival du Film de Famille, Nov 2018.
Reviews:
News
An article on Alaraby Aljadeed about our film " Chasing The Dazzling Light"by Nada Alazhari
An article on Aljazeera Documentary about our film " Chasing The Dazzling Light"by Kais Kasem.
The best Feature film at Oran International Arab film festival 2024.
We are honored that our documentary trilogy "On The Edge of Life" by Yaser Kassab and Rima Al-hamedd has been featured in Eleni Giakouvaki's article, Contemplations on Belonging, for the Swedish Film Institute Swedish Film Institute . Many thanks for the thoughtful piece and insightful reflections on themes of displacement and identity!
"Chasing the Dazzling Light" at Venice Biennale Arte 2024
Friday 14 June
On view at ACP at Palazzo Franchetti in Venice, the exhibition highlights works by more than 40 filmmakers and video artists.
Friday 14 June
On view at ACP at Palazzo Franchetti in Venice, the exhibition highlights works by more than 40 filmmakers and video artists.
Coinciding with the 60th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Your Ghosts Are Mine – Expanded Cinemas, Amplified Voices brings the visions of dozens of filmmakers and video artists from the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia to the art world’s most prestigious stage. It includes selected films supported, co-financed or initiated by the Doha Film Institute and video works from the collections of Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art and the future Art Mill Museum Veniceartfactory
📍Location: ACP Palazzo Franchetti (I noble floor), S. Marco 2847
Dates: April 19th - November 24th, 2024
Open Wednesday to Monday (closed on Tuesdays), 10am-6pm
"Chasing the Dazzling Light" at Syrian Doc Days Copenhagen.
Saturday 14e Sep , 19.30: + talk / SDD24
"Chasing The Dazzling Light" got the best first feature documentary at IDFA:
Members of the jury were greatly impressed "by the filmmaker's total command of the cinematic language, using very simple, even austere elements and a clever and insightful sense of humor to tell a complex story about exile, family loss, nostalgia, loneliness, and to do so in a self-reflective, dignified and moving way."
"On the Edge of Life" Has a corner at an article about Intimate Exile:
World records Journal in their latest volume address the questions "How do generations engage in political struggle together, even as their horizons diverge?"
and they published several articles that reflect on the Syrian cinema.
Nicolas Appelt writes an article "Bidayyat \ Intimate Exile"
As part of the colloquium "Creations proof of exile of war"
at Université Sorbonne, Camille Leprince will present an analysis of the Syrian film On the edge of life by Yaser Kassab and Rima Alhamedd, the/ panel Genres, shapes, spaces from 11:45 to 1.15 p.m.
DOKUMENTÄRFOTOSALONG 2020: KAOS at Norrköping arbetarmuseum
Photography exhebition at Oslo City Campaign, Berlin City Campaign
"I have seen Nothing I have seen Al" gains best short documentary at Sharjah film platform.
"I have seen Nothing I have seen Al" film review at Modern times
"I have seen Nothing I have seen Al" film review at Alaraby UK
FAMILY FILM FESTIVAL
ON THE EDGE OF LIFE – Prix du jury
de Yasser Kassab (Syrie, 2017, documentaire, 44 minutes)
Rima and Yasser fled Syria. They are in Beirut, then somewhere in Turkey, as prisoners of an indefinite no man’s land. Yaser Kassab films his companion Rima, the soulless decor where they found refuge, the moon, the pupil full in an eye of black clouds. And everywhere resonate the words of loved ones left in Syria, the guilt of not being there to survive or die with them.
https://www.espace-1789.com/film/festival-du-film-de-famille-le-palmar%C3%A8s-0
"On the edge of life" as a Best documentary and Best mid-length documentary at Tirana Film Festival
Jury's motivation:
"A heart-rending personal essay on grief and uprooting, on the limbo states of existence"
"On the edge of life" best -mid-length documentary at Festival dei Popoli
jury's motivation:
"Both lyrical and personal, this film relates an urgent and all-too-common experience today employing a unique cinematic language which creates an important space for contemplation. A story of survival in a contemporary moment of uncertainty, the film gathers textures and images which attest to displacement and struggle but also their representation. Generous, open, subtle and filled with unsuspecting poetry, this film demonstrates how art, cinema and human connection are integral to existence in dire circumstances."
"On the edge of life" film review at Aljazera Documentary
European Foundation Joris Ivens jury's motivation for the award as a best first film in the 39th edition of cinema du reel film festival.
Yaser Kassab transcend the process of mourning, developing a particular cinematic treatment of space, both internal and external.