In this personal essay, Syrian filmmaker Khaled Abdulwahed, who has fled his country for Germany, becomes preoccupied with his father Sadallah’s past in Leipzig, Merseburg and Dresden. The latter moved to the GDR in the 1950s, where he learned German, studied engineering, travelled, lived and loved, before returning to the land of his birth. On the telephone, the two speak about this time, joking about cultural peculiarities and commenting on Khaled’s detective-like sleuthing in German archives. This dialogue between Leipzig and Aleppo and the photos of his father which Khaled processes at his computer, re-embedding them in present-day places, gradually open up a vast panorama view of the intertwined relationship between the two countries, the gaps in the family biography and the role of images in the process of remembering. 2023 winner of the Grand Prix at the renowned FID Marseille.

Khaled Abdulwahed, born 1975 in Homs/Syria, lives as an artist, photographer and filmmaker in Leipzig/Germany. Since 2011, he has realized numerous video art works and experimental documentaries, which have been shown worldwide at festivals and in art contexts – and received multiple awards. His videos BULLET (2011), TUJ (2012) and SLOT IN MEMORY (2013) have been shown at the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Berlin Art Biennale and on Arte, among others. Since 2015, he has been collaborating with the Berlin-based production platform pong film.

Filmography (selection): 2016 JELLYFISH, 2018 BACKYARD (short film), 2020 PURPLE SEA, 2023 BACKGROUND

Awards: Grand Prix (Marseille International Film Festival, France 2023), Jury Award International Competition (International Filmmaker Festival, Milan/Italy 2023)