Abounaddara's Emergency Cinema and Bidayyat's Documentary Approach in Syria

The article discusses two Syrian film collectives, Abounaddara and Bidayyat, and their distinct approaches to documenting the Syrian war. Abounaddara, an anonymous collective active since 2010, practices "emergency cinema," releasing weekly short videos via social media that focus on ordinary citizens' testimonies and acts of resistance, aiming to "evoke horror without ever showing it" to defend the dignity of the nameless. In contrast, Bidayyat, founded in 2013 by Mohammad Ali Atassi and colleagues, teaches Syrians documentary filmmaking to take ownership of their wartime narratives, producing carefully constructed, professionally edited films rooted in the filmmaker's personal vision. The 2018 Bidayyat production "Still Recording" compiles footage from 2011-2015 by art students Ghiath Ayoub and Saeed Al Batal, documenting young men taking up arms against Assad's forces. Notably, Al Batal was present at the 2013 chemical attack in Ghouta that killed over 1,000 and injured nearly 6,000, but he put down his camera to help victims and refused to include graphic footage, leaving only brief accidental shots of a chemical missile and dead chickens. The film conveys the attack through on-screen text, highlighting a gap that confirms his presence through absence.