“The Oath of Cyriac” wins 1st prize at the 19th Festival of Archaeological Cinema 2023

Damascus, SANA- “The Oath of Cyriac” film was awarded  by the Jury at the 19th edition of the Festival of Archaeological Cinema (Agrigente, Italy) by winning the 1st prize of the Valley Of The Temples Archaeological Park.

“The Oath of Cyriac” is a feature docudrama based on a breathtaking true story that will challenge your vision of archaeologists.

As war rages around them, a small group of archaeologists, museum curators and attendants struggle to save the monumental collections of the Museum of Aleppo during the Syrian crisis.

For years, these women and men will bid farewell to their families every morning before heading to the museum under a hail of shells, facing sniper fire, often sleeping on the ground of the museum for several days in an attempt to accomplish their mission. Without electricity, without water, without means, they empty the showcases, pack antiques with pieces of clothing, dismantle false ceilings to protect them in makeshift boxes, build concrete walls to hide ancient statues from looters.

But in 2015, the Museum becomes a battle front line and the risk of seeing these treasures disappearing is greater every day: how to evacuate 50,000 artifacts in a besieged city? In this race against time, nothing is guaranteed, nothing is certain, the only certainty lies in one fact: if the museum’s collections are lost, a whole part of human history will disappear with them.

The film is directed by Olivier Bourgeois supported by the Syrian Ministry of Culture.

More than 18 international awards in international festivals were went to the film, since its first screening in 2021 until the cultural event of “Damascene Rose… from Syria to Turin” held in Italy with screening organized by the Syrian Trust for Development last month.

ALI,Baraa

 

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