Doors 7:00p
Program 7:30p

UnionDocs
352 Onderdonk Ave
Ridgewood, NY

We’re delighted to partner with ArteEast to co-present A Portrait of Michel, an evocative investigative work by Christine Gedeon!

Blending archival materials, family interviews, and striking photographs of Michel’s remaining belongings, the film pieces together the life and mysterious disappearance of the filmmaker’s uncle, who was abducted by the Hafez al-Assad regime in 1978.

As Gedeon traces his story from Syria to Beirut and Toulouse, the portrait unfolds like a puzzle—an attempt to decode a life interrupted. Interwoven with rare 8mm footage of family gatherings from the 1940s, the film offers a poignant meditation on memory, loss, and the weight of history.

Christine will begin the evening by sharing a glimpse into her research and materials, providing deeper insight into the making of the film.  Don’t miss this screening and discussion as we delve into this deeply personal and compelling work! Christine will be in attendance for a conversation following the screening.

Program

A Portrait of Michel

43 mins, 2024, Digital, black and white, sound

A Portrait of Michel is an investigative video portrait that unravels the mysterious abduction of Michel Saadé, a young doctor who vanished at the hands of the Hafez al-Assad regime in Damascus in 1978. Combining family interviews, archival materials, and photographs of Michel’s remaining belongings—his “Objects of Evidence”—the film reconstructs his life and disappearance through 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.

Program Duration: 43 mins

Bios

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 the Berlin Cultural Senate, The Harpo Foundation, the Bronx Museum, and A.I.R. Gallery, New York. Her book, Aleppo: Deconstruction | Reconstruction was published in 2020, by Kerber Verlag in Germany.