War Maker is based on the true story of Karim Shaheen, a Palestinian visual artist from Gaza, and the way his life and dreams were affected by experiencing three different wars in the space of eleven years (1980-1991).
A multidisciplinary performance that mixes visual art and new media, documentary and object theater, like an echo chamber, in which the public shares the artist’s point of view, while living in continuous exile. How can war affect our dreams?
Since his childhood, and wherever Karim and his family go, there is always a war breaking out. First, the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988); then the Gulf War in 1990 (Iraq-Kuwait); and, finally, the Civil War in Yugoslavia, in 1991. This touched him so much that Karim began to wonder: was he a War Maker?
War Maker is the latest creation by Palestinian-Jordanian Husam Abed, who is back at FIMFA. The 2016 edition was one of the highlights, with his autobiographical and intimate show The Smooth Life.
Husam met Karim Shaheen during their time together at the Yarmuk Refugee Camp in Damascus, Syria, where they shared a house. From a young age, Karim had a huge passion for science fiction films and had the dream of becoming a visual effects designer in America. Deported from Syria in 2000, Karim fled to other places, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Hungary, until he finally ended up in the country he dreamed of as a child: the United States. War Maker reflects his memories of war, the fragility of his existence and raises questions related to identity. Karim’s absurd and brutal reality places him at a crossroads between love, dreams and family connections.
BIO
Husam Abed was born in 1980. He is a versatile Palestinian-Jordanian artist, with multifaceted projects in his artistic career. He is a director, performer, puppeteer, musician and producer who lives in Prague, Czech Republic. He began his PhD at Bath Spa University, in England, and has a Masters in Directing from the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU), Prague.
He carries out and directs theater and puppetry projects for children and young people in different countries. His shows have been presented at several international festivals in Europe, the Arab world, Hong Kong and Macau. He is co-founder of the Hazaart and LIV’in festivals in the city of Prague, member of the Amman Theater Lab, board member of Sawiyan, curator of IDEA (International Dance Encounter Amman) and member of the Karama Film Festival for Human Rights in Jordan.
Dafa – an Arabic word meaning “warmth” – was a project started in 2009 to reach refugee communities in Jordan. The Dafa Puppet Theater company was later founded in
2015 by Husam Abed and his wife, Hungarian puppeteer and set designer Reka Deak, both graduates of the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) in Prague. The company has received several awards and is regularly invited to participate in festivals around the world. It combines principles of improvisation theater, physical theater, puppet/object theater, musical theater and multimedia to build stimulating productions, based on both fiction and documentary. Dafa Puppet Theater organizes Ya Khayal Theater Lab. for refugees and local youth in Amman/Jordan; the LIV’in festival in the city of Prague, an alternative cultural gathering in the living rooms of Prague’s inhabitants.
