Antoine Chapon
AL BASATEEN / THE ORCHARDS
France 2025, 24’40”
Using varied footage and techniques (including architectural renderings prepared by the regime) and the Al Basateen (i.e., “the orchards” in Arabic) neighbourhood in Damascus as a case study, this film exposes Bashar al-Assad’s policy of razing to the ground entire historical districts as punishment for the population’s uprising against the regime. Urban development is enhanced by allies such as big entrepreneurs and property speculators, not to mention the use of low-cost labour. The olive trees, pomegranates, mulberry trees that used to be found in each orchard are now an abstract memory, but the director slips the beloved prickly pears into the icy designs of Marota City, whose skyscrapers are wiping out the city’s history.
Antoine Chapon (b. 1990, France) is a film-maker and multidisciplinary artist. His work creates hybrid forms using cinema, CGI animation, and stock footage. His first short film My Own Landscapes premiered in Visions du Réel where it won the Best Short Film Award. From then, his work has been showcased at Sundance, Telluride, Palm Springs, Sarajevo, Premiers Plans, ZKM|Karlsruhe, Centre Pompidou, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Singapore Art Museum. A Berlinale Talents alumnus, he is currently writing his first feature documentary.
director, screenplay: Antoine Chapon
production company: Petit Chaos
producer: Thomas Hakim, Julien Graff
cinematographer: Juliette Barrat
sound design: Simon Apostolo, Ryo Baldet
editor: Laura Rius Aran, Antoine Chapon
animation: Antoine Chapon
music: Hareth Mhedi
ALL SCREENINGS ARE FREE
