The Watchman
Back to listSynopsis
Lourujina, a village in the northern part of Cyprus, is currently under the control of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Sergeant Bulut, a young Turkish Cypriot soldier, is doing his military service. He is responsible for guarding the border on the northern side from a watchtower. One night, while on duty, he begins to see strange things happening on the southern side of the hills. He sees suspicious lights moving about.
As the soldier's "visions" recur every night, various scenarios, including the possibility of an enemy attack, occupy his mind. These events seem too uncertain to inform his superiors. When the soldier plucks up his courage and decides to investigate more closely, he comes face to face with an army of "ghosts": soldiers who died on that front, who return like ghosts haunting the hills.
The Watchman explores the idea of waiting not only as a temporal experience, but also as a spatial one. It's about a soldier caught in the false ridges of duty and a tale of disappointment. It's a life wasted waiting for an enemy who never arrives...
Screenings
Teatro Estudio
Official Selection Short Fiction 2
Auditorio Miguel Malo | Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramírez "El Nigromante"
Official Selection Short Fiction 2
Cast and crew
Director's bio:
Born in Beirut, Ali Cherri is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Paris. Combining film, video, sculpture and installation, his work questions the construction of historical narratives. Ali was the Artist in Residence at the National Gallery in London (2021/2022) and is the Silver Lion winner at the 59th Venice Biennale Arte (2022) for his installation Of Men and Gods and Mud. Ali Cherri is the recipient of Harvard University's Robert E. Fulton Fellowship, the Rockefeller Foundation Residency Award. His short films The Disquiet and The Digger have been shown and awarded at numerous festivals. The Dam, shot in Sudan during the revolution, his first feature film, was presented at Cannes - Directors' Fortnight 2022. This year, Ali Cherri’s first solo exhibition in the United States Humble and quiet and soothing as mud, has been presented by the Swiss Institute. He is now opening the exhibition Dreamless Night at GAMeC (Bergamo) which will travel at Frac Bretagne (Rennes) and works on his next exhibition at the Fondation Giacometti (Paris).
Gallery
