Thirty-three years ago, Omar Amiralay was devoted to the modernization of his country, Syria and made his first movie to praise the construction of the Euphrate boom, pride of the Bass party in charge of the power. Today, he regrets this youthful mistake. The crash of one of the booms and the revelation of an official note predicting the same for all that have been built under the Baas reign urge him on to return in the place of his first filming. A country flourishes around the "Assad Lake": Syria from Hafez-al-Assad. In this new Syria he chose a village. This village, his inhabitants and even the watering hole have the same name "El Machi".
Governed by a tribe chief, Parliament member and regulated by his nephew, headmaster and political leader, this entity is the mirror of a country that the Baas party has been ruled for forty years.


directed by Omar Amiralay

It was programmed by the Foreign Press Association at the Foreign Press Welcoming Centre, Maison de Radio France, Paris, on October 31st 2006, 3.00pm. Screening followed by a debate with the writer Farouk Mardam Bey.