Rasmus Dinesen: Verdens bedste kok

Selvfølgelig er det fascinerende, men præcist hvad er det, som er så fascinerende? Filmen går ud fra, at det er en selvfølge, og der tager instruktøren fejl. Og fejltagelsen er fatal for hans film, for han bruger den derfor ikke til at finde ud af det der med fascination. Og derfor er det overhovedet ikke en egentlig fascinerende film, det er nemlig ikke en klog film. Det er en tilsyneladende fascinerende film. Og det bliver den ved at efterligne det, den skildrer, først og fremmest hovedpersonen, kokken Rasmus Kofoeds virtuositet. Helt tydeligt derved at klipperen Per K. Kirkegaard og hans hold i klipperummet ligesom gentager Kofoeds og hans holds suveræne præstation, blot altså i deres fag. Se det er en hyldest. Og det holder filmen igennem. Næsten. Jeg tror ikke den tour de force havde holdt mange sekunder længere end de fem minutter over 40 minutters muren. Det var der slet ikke stof til. Men flot, flot klippet.

Ikke stof nok? Ja, filmens kerne er jo selve fascinationen. Fascinationen af træningen, logistikken, roen, overblikket, kraftudfoldelsen på de rigtige tidspunkter. Men der er ikke mere, ikke flere lag, og efter variationerne over fascinationens rent ydre fremtrædelsesform ligesom er udtømt, er der for mig at se ikke mere tilbage i filmen.

Ikke i interviewuddragene hvor sympatisk end Rasmus Kofoed er, ikke i den speak, som med foragt næsten (gætter jeg på) er udeladt, ikke i scenerne fra sportslivet uden for køkkenet.. Ingen eftertanke, slet ikke nogen tvivl, disse elementer, som ellers kan give bastonen. Filmen er glad, begejstret og fascineret for og af sig selv. Lukker sig om fascinationen, kan, hvad den har villet. For så vidt og ikke længere. Den når sit publikum, vil jeg tro, skuffer det ikke, anfægter det heller ikke.

Rasmus Dinesen: Verdens bedste kok (The World’s Finest Chef), Danmark 2011, 45 min. Fotografi: Aske Foss, Niels Thastum, Rune Backs og Rasmus Dinesen, klip: Per K. Kirkegaard, Frederik Strunk Hjorth Nielsen og Klaus Heinecke, lyddesign: Bobby Hess, musik: Rune Funch og Jakob Dinesen, producer: Monica Hellström, produktion: Final Cut for Real Sendt på DR2 Dokumania i aftes. Genudsendes 19. november. Rasmus Dinesen filmografi: United Colours of Football (1998), The Forbidden Team (2003), Diplomacy (2008)

Werner Herzog: Cave of Forgotten Dreams

What does a cave being enclosed for thousands of years sound like? Or smell like? This film actually tries to tell us, but first of all it shows us what it looks like. Or to be more precise, it shows us what the 30.000 years old cave paintings look like. And let me tell you right away, that despite being a 3D sceptic I was really flabbergasted by the effect that this format gives you; a unique sense on how the ancient artists used the curves and hollows of the cave walls to create effects that are right down spectacular. Even from today’s perspective this is world class art!

The paintings do take up a lot of time in this film and you actually get the strange sensation that even Herzog himself was overwhelmed by the art in these caves and thus has made a slightly more conventional documentary. We do get a lot of his trademarks, though: The philosophical narration, the “leading” questions to interviewees and the oddball characters, for instance the “perfumerist” who is skilled in finding hidden caves using his nostrils. Also, a typical Herzog-moment comes when his voice narrates that the footprints of a wolf and an 8-year-old boy were found next to each other. Did the wolf stalk the boy, did they walk together as companions or were the footprints sat 10.000 years apart? “We will never know”. Herzog also wants to put art, music and the understanding of human evolvement into perspective and it really does work. But first and last are the paintings themselves of paramount interest to him. Even when we almost think the film is over, we get the best seven or eight minutes of them all: the camera dwelling on the walls with very simple lighting effects and some really beautiful music – an original score by Ernst Reijseger as far as I can detect.

However, a few “buts” arose in my mind. At an early point in the film, one of the scientists asks the crew to be silent so we can hear the sounds of the cave. Herzog can’t stand that silence more than 10 seconds but soon adds a heartbeat and then music, and shortly it gives you an uneasy feeling about the director’s choices. And apart from when we see the paintings themselves; the 3D format is interesting at best and somewhat annoying and distracting at worst.

But in the end the film is just wonderful and Herzog does the unthinkable: he lets us feel that he put the matter of the film in a predominant position because he didn’t have a choice. These paintings are essential to mankind, the film says, and I agree.

Documenting the Revolution/ 1

The cph:dox festival deserves credit for (also) putting a focus on the changes in the Arab world. With the support of IMS (International Media Support, Danish state supported organisation), no less than a dozen screenings and debates, entitled ”Free Radical”, were on the agenda of the festival, with many invited guests from the countries involved. I attended a handful of them as well as a very well visited seminar held by Danish newspaper Politiken, also a supporter of cph:dox, under the headline ”The Arab Spring and the new Media”, referring to the role of social media like Facebook and Twitter during the revolutions. This meeting included a panel of experts, university people of Arab origin living outside the region, plus Danish professor Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen who made a fine introduction to Syria and the website activity going on – the main source for information from a country closed for foreign press, many times linked on this site under ”The Syrian Revolution“.

I mention this because of the clear distinction in terminology and access between that – academic – panel and the bloggers, activists and filmmakers who took part in the festival. No, I am not saying that one is better than the other, only that you feel so strongly the difference between an inside and an outside look on the current affairs. Jon Alterman from Washington thought that the social media’s impact was quite overestimated, television’s role had been crucial for the changes in Tunisia and Egypt, Skovgaard-Petersen did not have the word ”revolution” on his power point presentation, he talked about ”the uprising” etc.

Orwa Nyrabia, however, Syrian film producer and co-organiser of the Dox Box festival, that has been running for four years in Damascus, unlikely of course to happen next year, did not hesitate to call the uprising ”a revolution”, and gave the audience a good intro to the situation in his country on two meeting occasions. One in connection with the screening of ”Life in a Syrian Village” by late master Omar Amiralay, and another when one of the dox:lab films were to be screened. Danish performance artist Lillibeth Cuenca was meant to be joined by her co-director, Syrian filmmaker Nidal Hassan, who did not arrive to Copenhagen as he was arrested in Damascus when he was about to get his travel documents cleared. The work-in-progress of the two was screened – it was less than promising from a film quality point of view. Nyrabia took the floor and informed with a lot of humour and sarchasm that there is nothing new in Syrian filmmakers being put into prison by the regime, that Nidal Hassan and others are grown up people, who know about the risk they are taking saying what they are saying against Assad and his dictatorship. There is no reason to feel guilty, he said to the Danish performer and others from the festival organisation, keep on inviting us so we can come and tell you what we know and see. Said Nyrabia, a very good friend, who I keep on naming ”the first minister of culture” in a new and free Syria!

The best session, however, was called ”Documenting the Revolution”. Clips, photos, film quoted were shown and the panelists helped each other to give a broad picture to the audience. In the panel were documentary filmmaker Elyes Baccar (Tunisia) (PHOTO from his Rouge Parole), journalist.

Thameur Mekki (Tunisia), film director and activist Lara Baladi (Egypt), and photographer and blogger Maggie Osama (Egypt). The two hour meeting started with the images from Cairo January 28, ”the Day of Anger”, where the police was attacking the people with guns and water canons on the bridge over the Nile. Enormously touching material that also shows praying people in the middle of the demonstration, with the crowd slowly winning the battle – at a certain moment the police tanks turn around and the walk to Tahir Square starts. These YouTube clips will get the same status as the man in front of the tank on Tiananmenh Square in Beijing in 1989. Go to YouTube.. 

The Tunisian filmmaker Elyes Baccar gave us the story of the Tunisian revolution that started with the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi in Sidi-Bouzid, an event that was filmed and uploaded on the internet by his cousin Ali, later to be broadcast on al Jazeera, link to the YouTube version.. 

It sparked the revolution, uprisings in other cities of the country began, putting an end to the dictatorship of Ben Ali, who stepped down January 14, a month after the incident in Sidi-Bouzid. In the beginning, the director said, I was not a director, but a citizen, but gradually I felt that I had to film ”to feel that it was real”. He did and the very good result was shown at the festival in Copenhagen, ”Rouge Parole”, see review below.

Documenting the Revolution… as it was said in the panel, we have to go further than the news ”that is taking all humanity away”. We have ”to bring back basic things”, give a name to this person who is not just a number, said Elyes Baccar.

The Egyptian panelists added that we have to ”document before we forget”. Maggie Osama showed some of her strong photographs from Tahrir Square, and Lara Baladi informed about the group ”Tahrir Cinema” that was formed during the days of revolution. But now we see a counter-revolution, she said and reminded us about the massacre three weeks ago. ”The revolution is on the edge of being hi-jacked”, she said, ”it is a revolution in making, a work-in-progress”. Remember also that after the revolution there are still 12.000 people in prison.

The role of the media – we have to keep an eye on the development, said the Tunisians. We have now 101 political parties in the country and 60% of the television coverage in connection with the election was pro the islamists, said journalist Thameur Mekki, who also spoke about the complex role of the broadcaster al Jazeera in the region. Yes, they were promoting the islamists, but they were also the first that said yes to broadcast from Tunisia in December 2011 when it all started.

www.cphdox.dk

Documenting the Revolution/ 2

Two films at cph:dox dealt with the revolution in Egypt and Tunisia: Omar Shargawi and Karim El Hakim’s “1/2 Revolution” and Elyes Baccar’s “Rouge Parole”. The latter about Tunisia, the first shot in Egypt.

“1/2 Revolution” (PHOTO) was made by coincidence. You dare say! The filmmaker Omar Shargawi went to Egypt to make a feature about street children in Cairo, when he and his friends found themselves in the middle of, and taking part in what became world history: the downfall of a dictator and his suppressing regime in a huge Arab country. The quality of this film lies with the fact that the Palestinian/Danish director succeeds to personalize the story. He and his friends lived in the centre of Cairo, close to the Tahir Square. From their windows they could follow the violent clashes between police and demonstrators, from hour to hour, in a flat where there was also a baby stumbling around among grown-ups like the director himself, who have family outside he country and who of course worry about what could happen to their dear ones.

It does indeed gives the situation another perspective, and the film a tension different from the youtube uploaded clip documentations from the fights in the streets. At the same as Shargawi and his friends film in the streets. The dramatic situation is conveyed with passion and a sense of presence, and goes from documenting to documentary interpretation and personal drama. You fully understand why the group had to leave Cairo after 11 days, 7 days before Mubarak steps down.

The Tunisian film “Rouge Parole” also intends to be more than a news report on what happened in the country. And it reaches that goal in a way where you

feel both informed and emotionally involved. The director does not only stay at the Kasbah Square in the capital, he goes to other cities, first of all to Sidi Bouzid, where Bouazizi set fire to himself, an act that played a crucial role in the protests and revolution that followed. The director catches the atmosphere of anger, to say the least, against the regime of Ben Ali and the enthusiasm, when it collapses. And he puts in a lyrical frame and pauses for reflection. Yet he does also include the discussions between the revolutionaries, who do not necessarily agree on all among themselves. Of course a film that will – when time comes, with a distance – be put on a list that also includes Humphrey Jennings “Listen to Britain” from WW2, or other patriotic films like Juris Podnieks Latvian “Homeland” from the time of liberation from the Soviet empire. Am I giving the film too much credit, I don’t think so… It is very well made and quite impressive in its kaleidoskopic form.

½ Revolution (Denmark, 2011, 72 mins.). Directors: Omar Shargawi & Karim El Hakim.

Rouge Parole (Switzerland, Tunisia, 2011, 97 min.). 
Director: Elyes Baccar.

Targeting: Bin Laden

Jeg har det med filmen, som jeg har det med ordet drejebog, som jo betyder to ting på dansk. Naturligvis er en drejebog en plan for en film, men det er i nutidssprog også en plan for en hvilken som helst anden kompliceret handling eller aktion. Targeting: Bin Laden vil som film overbevise mig om, at dens manuskript simpelthen er CIA’s og admiralens manuskript for ”Red Teams” opsporing og likvidering af Osama Bin Laden. Og det lykkedes i første omgang. Jeg iagttog det tvivlende til vantro: er dette direct cinema, er dette optagelser fra kameraer i The Navy’s SEAL Teams hjelme, er det Bin Laden, der står der øverst på trappen i nattøj? Og som filmen skred frem accepterede jeg det hele. Den er faktisk ret spændende. Som underholdning er den temmelig spændende. Og jeg var jo underholdt. Og forført.

Men så kommer eftertanken. Ét er at jeg faktisk godt kan lide historiske rekonstruktioner, som BBC underholdning for eksempel, noget andet er, at jeg da plejer at efterlyse eftertanke og tvivl og tøven i ægte dokumentariske historiske rekonstruktioner. Nå, der er da alle tre elementer i Targeting: Bin Laden. Men de er vel at mærke omhyggeligt anbragt inden i filmens selvforståelse af at være selve denne komplicerede og farefulde operation ind i et Pakistan med forstår man ikke-informerede myndigheder. De er præsidentens og hans mænds eftertanke, tvivl og tøven med hensyn til de rent militære og tekniske risici, naturligt placeret som plotpunkter. Og der er kun dette ene lag i filmen.

Eftertanken, tvivlen og tankens langsomhed hører hjemme i en anden slags dokumentarfilm, disse film med fortællevinklen anbragt et sikkert sted i nærheden af autor og lagt ned i værket som en voksende uro af noget, som blander sig udefra, måske fra tilskuerens sind, her kunne det være moralske og juridiske overvejelser, der, som det er tilfældet sker i  Morris’ The Fog of War, lyttes frem af McNamara i den berømte spejlkonstruktion. I The History Channels værk er det naturligvis slet ikke sådan. Det er selvfølgelig en omhyggeligt efterrationaliseret og dramatiseret påstand om, at de to drejebøger, admiralens og historiekanalens er konkruente. Det her er selvfølgelig en propagandafilm. En rigtig veldrejet en af slagsen.

The History Channel: Targeting: Bin Laden. USA 2011, 88 min. Sendt i DR2 Dokumania (Operation bin Laden – minut for minut) på hvis hjemmeside den kan ses nogen tid endnu. Filmen kan købes på Amazon og streames elller downloades mange steder på nettet. Den historiske operation, hvis internationale lovlighed er anfægtet fra mange sider, får et udfoldet og interessant forsvar i en kort juridisk opsats af to lærere ved amerikanske militærakademier, Shane Reeves og Jerymy Marsch: ”Bin Laden and Awlaki: Lawful Targets”, i Harvard International Review 26. oktober 2011.

cph:dox Awards

Awards were given at the cph:dox festival in Copenhagen and juries motivated their choices, this is the press release from the festival:

In the main competition, DOX:AWARD, Ben Rivers’ ‘Two Years at Sea’ was awarded for its convincing depiction of the euphoric feeling of being immersed in an elemental environment. “An enigmatic work that emanates from another place and time and justifies its own existence,” the jury said.

The DANISH:DOX AWARD went to Christian Sønderby Jepsen’s warm and humorous family drama ‘The Will’. The jury said: “A potential freak show turns into an emphatic social commentary and a touching story of neglect – going beyond mere exploitation and the current, somewhat fashionable white trash romanticism, presenting real humans of flesh and blood, with whom you laugh and cry as they try to make their family work.”

Furthermore, Omar Shargawi’s ‘½ Revolution’ (PHOTO) received a special mention from the jury. Especially emphasized was the immediacy and presence of the film. “The circumstances might have been unpredictable, but the film feels as concise and well-structured as any scripted film by a director who has had time and money to do his homework,” the jury further said.

The NEW:VISION AWARD that aims at promoting the experimental documentary in the field between documentary and art was given to Philippe Grandrieux’s ‘It May Be That Beauty Has Strengthened Our Resolve – Masao Adachi’ about the Japanese filmmaker Masao Adachi. The jury highlighted the film’s interweaving of Adachi’s aesthetic concerns with the social and political histories he lived through. “Rather than a typical director/subject relationship, this is a collaboration between both directors, where authorship moves back and forth,” the jury’s motivation said.

Additionally, René Frölke’s film ‘Führing’ received a special mention for its depiction of the absurd play between art and politics.

The NORDIC:DOX AWARD jury viewed fifteen films which, according to the jury, “all offer an impressive look into the rich spectrum of Scandinavian documentary filmmaking”. This year’s prize was given to Thomas Østbye’s ‘Imagining Emanuel’ – an elegant and powerful film that reframes current

discussion around identity, race and place,” the jury said. They added: “Through a poetic and formally innovative structure, the film takes the experience of one man, caught between the burdens of history, certainty and representation and creates a quietly powerful and engaged critique of the politics of migration and the image itself.”

For its creative storytelling and objective tone, Anca Damian received this year’s AMNESTY AWARD for the animation film ‘Crulic – the Path Beyond’ about the Romanian Claudiu Crulic who is unjustly accused of theft and dies after going on hunger strike in a Polish prison. The jury said: “The film represents a tragic, real story of human injustice told through an extraordinary imaginative and creative animation. The animated reality together with the objective tone of the narration creates an untraditional storytelling. This allows the viewer to identify with the character without feeling imposed.”

In the series SOUND&VISION AWARD, the jury awarded ‘Grandma Lo-fi: the Basement Tapes of Sigridur Nielsdottir’ by Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir, Orri Jónsson and Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir. The film is a portrait of an Icelandic lady who, despite her old age, cannot help but make music and does so with both passion and soul. The jury said: “A quirky film about an unlikely subject. Charming and innovative, the film reveals the pure joy of raw creativity.”

The DOC ALLIANCE AWARD – the price awarded to the best of the five documentaries that can be streamed for free at DAFilm.com and ibyen.dk/cphdox on November 13th and 14th – was awarded to Eva Mulvad’s ‘The Good Life’. “The director’s negotiation and rapport with her subjects has led to that degree of seamless observation where we sometimes forget there is a camera there at all. These confessionals, silent moments of despair and bitter bouts of vitriol, seem to be played out for us directly, as confidantes,” the jury said.

http://www.cphdox.dk/d/a2.lasso?d=2009502&l=25&e=1

Cph:dox – 5 gratis film på 2 døgn

A good offer to Danish citizens with a computer and a wish to watch films from cph:dox. I switch to Danish language:

Dagbladet Politiken skriver, i forkortet citat: Den niende udgave af den danske dokumentarfilmfestival er i gang, og politiken.dk har allieret sig med festivalen og streamingtjenesten Doc Alliance for at kunne tilbyde politiken.dk’s læsere fem stærke dokumentarfilm ganske gratis.

Filmene vil kunne streames fra ibyen.dk/cphdox fra 12. november klokken 00.00 til 13. november klokken 23.59.” Link til streamingen

Filmene er “Marrijas Own” (Zeljka Sukova), “Grande Hotel” (Lotte Stoops, jeg har set den, kan stærkt anbefales), “Accidentes Gloriosos” (Manuel Andrizzi & Marcus Lindeen), “Bombay Beach” (Boaz Yakin & Alma Har’el, FOTO, positivt anmeldt af Kim Skotte I Politiken) og “Nowhere Near Tomorrow” (Johanna Teichmann).

Cph:dox foregår kun I København – dansk centralistisk kulturpolitik! – derfor er et sådant initiativ naturligvis velkomment.

http://www.cphdox.dk/d/f.lasso

http://dafilms.com/

Pedro Urano & Joana Traub Csekö: Hu Enigma

I like it when a film slowly seems to get a hold of itself before your very eyes.  Like it’s getting smarter as it goes along. That’s how I felt watching this depiction of a huge hospital complex in Rio de Janeiro which has half of the building functioning and the other half lying almost in ruins.

The film is sort of clumsy to begin with. We follow a patient being pushed in a bed in the working part of the hospital and we see graphic pictures of the ruin. Then we follow a gastroscopy of the woman which – as something of a banality – is intercut with handheld shots from the cellar of the hospital with pibes, rubble and rats. Ok, one thinks, we get it: The hospital itself is also a patient.

But slowly the film opens up. Pictures of the building play a huge part throughout but we also see and hear people from various institutions talking either directly to us from behind a desk or walking around in the quite amazing construction. It can be the hospital director, an engineer, an architect – even a patient – all people who have genuine interest or feelings for the whole monstrosity. HU refers to its status as a University Hospital and it was part of the modernist, architect movement in 1950’s. But it was built way too big, and the unused part of the building is referred to as the “lame leg” and is just that: A dead counterpart to the “good leg”.

Split screen and camera movements are used with various effect and luck, but I get the feeling that it all seems to work better and better as the films progresses. Also, wonderful little stories appear like the one with a woman carrying an empty plant pot and who needs help to get out of a door. She wants to get one of the ferns growing wildly in the ruin right outside. It’s told from a distance and is just a beautiful documentary scene with reminiscence of Jacques Tati.

The graphic pictures are accompanied by industrial sounding “music” which also seem a bit trite to begin with but it all prove to be worthwhile in the end. For us and for the filmmakers in a way I won’t reveal here. I’m built up to amazement and content in a strangely satisfying way.

http://cphdox.dk/d/film.lasso?ser=1638&s=

Fia-Stina Sandlund: She’s Blonde Like Me

CPH:DOX on a November afternoon. I am watching a filmmaker’s film about her filmmaking and herself. Afterwards, I watch the filmmaker telling us about her film about herself and her filmmaking. I’m always interested in the creative process so I’m all eyes and ears.

The filmmaker, Fia-Stina Sandlund, surely wants to confuse us, though. In this film, she is taking her lead character to the famous art Biennale in Venice to make a performance which will serve not only as a performance but also as an audition and a step towards making a rendition of Swedish playwright August Strindberg’s “Miss Julie”. We quickly meet Alexandra Dahlström as the protagonist and from then on she rarely leaves the frame until the last 15 minutes or so. The filmmaker (Sandlund) is ever present on the soundtrack since large portions of the film consists of the two blonde girls talking about their project which only is revealed sporadically. Sandlund is sometimes seen on the edge of the frame, and we get the feeling that they both are serious artists; Dahlström is dedicated, a bit sulky at times, maybe even troubled. We also get the feeling that she could easily play Julie. Or Sandlund. Maybe she does the latter already? I know, it sounds confusing, but it’s really not. Not yet, at least.

As a viewer one looks for things to get involved with and in this case they throw us some small intellectual goodies about Strindberg and his play “Miss Julie” and it’s clear that Strindberg fascinates the protagonist(s) with his ambiguous view on women. I, more predictably, notice how much Dahlström looks like Scarlett Johansen from certain angles. Dahlström IS a sight for sore eyes – and you may know her from “Fuckin’ Åmål” – but I sometimes just want to poke her (and Sandlund) in the eye. The film is namely shot less delightfully and my fascination and my irritation struggle to get the upper hand. The film is both bold and boring, arguably too long but surely original and not without humour.

The moment in the film which the women have prepared for comes: the performance with Dahlström playing Sandlund. But the weather pulls their legs; the electricity goes away and the performance is aborted. At least in the film. And then a true avant-garde moment appears: A woman – whom we have never seen before – coughs. Violently. Now I’m confused. The woman turns out to be some kind of clairvoyant and she’s having a séance to get some other hitherto unseen women closer to Strindberg. I forget that I want to cast Dahlström for almost anything but I don’t forget Sandlund’s project. Kudos to that.

The film is the first in a trilogy where the third supposedly will be a version of “Miss Julie” with Dahlström as Julie, since she passed the “audition”. This Sandlund tells us afterwards on this November afternoon. Film number two, “She’s Staging It”, will be a depiction of a theatre workshop in New York were they will be working on saving Julie from the suicide she presumably commits after curtains in “Miss Julie”.  I’m somewhat disturbed by the fact that I want to see both.

Fia-Stina Sandlund: She’s Blonde Like Me, Sverige, 2011. 89 min.

The Syrian Revolution/ 9

Text taken from Facebook, announced publicly in Copenhagen yesterday at the cph:dox festival by film producer and festival director Orwa Nyrabia from Damascus:

Syrian filmmaker Nidal Hassan disappeared in Damascus on Thursday 3-11-2011, no information about him has come to light since that day.

 Nidal was born in 1-9-1973, he studied Film Direction in Armenia and made several films one of which, SALTY SKIN, won a notable Russian prize. He has other films like FLINT MOUNTAIN and an unfinished film on his coastal city Tartous, THE POOR CHALLENGE GUINNESS.
 Note that he was previously detained at what is known as the “Intellectuals’ demonstration” in Damascus.

Nidal Hassan was on his way to the festival in Copenhagen.

At the same meeting Orwa Nyrabia announced that Syrian filmmaker Ali Sheikh Khoder, who was arrested by an unknown security division in Douma, Damascus, September 30 2011, had been released. One out, one in!

Link to the Facebook page