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. 2023 Nov

Dok Fest Munchen 2024

Jean Rouch Flm festival Paris 2024

Arte Venice Biennale 2024
Oran International Arab Film festival 2024
Carthage International Film Festival 2024

Mathaf Qatar
Aflam  Marseille 2025


Awards:


Reviews: 

تجربة مثيرة عن فيلم يصنعه الابن والأب: (مطاردة الضوء المبهر): ياسر قصاب على خطى والده 

"مطاردة الضوء المبهر": المنفى بلغة سينمائية مؤثّرة