On Friday, December 12th, at 7pm, join us at The Film-Makers' Cooperative (475 Park Avenue South, 6th Floor) for Christine Gedeon's remarkable experimental documentary A PORTRAIT OF MICHEL, presented in conjunction with an exhibition in our lounge. Gedeon will be in attendance to introduce her film and exhibition and answer audience members' questions.
A PORTRAIT OF MICHEL is an investigation of artist Christine Gedeon's uncle, Dr. Michel Saadé, who was abducted in Damascus in 1978 by the Hafez al-Assad regime and never seen since. After finding a pouch belonging to Michel that contained his miscellaneous objects, documents, and scraps of paper, Gedeon created this film, which combines photographs of these "Objects of Evidence” with voice-over interviews with family members, as well as vintage photographs, music, and archival 8mm family footage. Gedeon reconstructs his life and disappearance through these fragmented memories and found documents.
As the search for answers unfolds across Beirut, Damascus, and Toulouse, haunting questions linger about his fate. Interwoven with poignant 8mm footage of joyful family moments in Syria and Lebanon from 1946, the film juxtaposes past happiness with the enduring weight of loss and unresolved history.
Reconstructing a true-crime mystery that intersects with contemporary politics, A PORTRAIT OF MICHEL reflects Gedeon’s determination to get to the truth, while her creative approach to the sparse material leaves the conclusion for the viewer to decode.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Christine Gedeon is a visual artist, born in Aleppo, raised in the U.S., and divides her time between Berlin and New York. Since the start of the war in Syria, her work has focused on her family history in Syria, pre-civil war, in various mediums: video, a sound installation, works on paper and canvas. Gedeon’s work has appeared in galleries and institutions world-wide. She has received grants and fellowships from Stiftung Kunstfonds, The Berlin Cultural Senate, The Harpo Foundation, and the Bronx Museum, New York. Her book, ALEPPO: DECONSTRUCTION | RECONSTRUCTION was published in 2020, by Kerber Verlag in Germany.