Short Biography


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.





Films

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:




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:


Awards:


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:


Awards:



   Reviews:

News

"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.

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" 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

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."

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.