Lecturer in Film Production
Mario is an independent filmmaker and genocide studies scholar. He teaches year 1 filmmaking on the BA Film Production programme at Farnham on both the documentary and fiction units, including 16mm filmmaking. A proficient director, cinematographer, editor, colourist and guerrilla style producer, he advocates a fiercely independent and self-reliant form of film practice, nurturing learners towards experimentation and artistry in craft and the development of their conceptual thinking.
Bio
Engaged in an activist and expanded film practice, Mario holds a PhD in militant cinema and the study of 21st century genocide— a qualification he gained in 2019 following his research under the guidance and supervision of veteran British experimental filmmaker and original London Filmmakers’ Co-op member Professor William Raban, and political film practitioner Dr. Brad Butler.
Prior to joining UCA, Mario was a Visiting Practitioner at the London College of Communication—University of the Arts London, where he taught experimental and political film. He is a participant in the cross-institutional Committee on Activism, and the founder of Wujoud Collective (a gathering of Levantine civil society activists involved in the creation of audio-visual interventions as political action against tyranny). His film-based work has been exhibited, installed and presented at conferences, festivals and art galleries throughout the UK, Europe and the Arab world, including the Senesi Contemporanea in London's Mayfair; the Screen Research Forum at London College of Communication; the Sciences Po - Université de Lille as part of the Annual Conference on Political Economy; the Moving Image Research Centre at the University of East London; the 51 Zero festival in experimental film; the Obskura festival of analogue film in Rennes, France; the Cabriolet Film Festival in Beirut, Lebanon; and the Arab Screen film festival in Benghazi, Libya. His moving image and photographic portfolio also comprises collaborations with emerging talents in the fashion and music industries— most notably designer Chensy Guan and hip hop artist Daichi Yamamoto— and have premiered at the BAFTA-qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival (2017; 2019) and the London Short Film Festival (2018).
View work:
- Militant and activist films: https://wujoudcollective.tumblr.com/
- Independently researched and produced feature-length documentary Michel Chiha—about the life and ideas of the eponymously named early 20th century Lebanese political philosopher and social pluralist. First broadcast on Lebanon’s MTV in November 2012. See TV promo: https://youtu.be/Eo0v_aNVRuU)
- Industrial Revolution (2017): https://vimeo.com/217479634
- Wearable Sound (2017): https://vimeo.com/236006948
- Icon (2006): https://vimeo.com/127491844
Research statement
Mario’s practice-based research comprises intermedial experimentation in strategies of audio-visual resistance situated at the intersection of genocide studies and militant/activist audio-visual practice and Expanded Cinema. With a specific focus on genocide and resistance in Syria post 2011, his research interests incorporate the subjects of embodied resistance and knowledge; the absence of image in the formulation of narrative; dehumanisation campaigns and disinformation; internationalised genocide and the outsourcing of propaganda; Theatre of the Oppressed; Theatre of Cruelty; affect and the politics of participation, provocation, intervention, imposition and bearing witness; and the study of militant and activist film movements from around the world.
Writing:
- Hamad, M. (2020). “The Absent Image: Resisting The Erosion Of Public Trust In Syrian Activists’ Evidential Visuality”. Feminist Visual Activism and the Body. Ed: Basia Sliwinska. Routledge.
- Abou Hamad, M. (2019/2020). وجود Wujoud: Resistance strategies in the Syrian genocide? . University of the Arts London
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429298615-5/absent-image-mario-hamad
Audio-visual:
- A Reasonable Argument - film. 2018. Duration: 01:46
- Statues - film/installation. 2018. Duration: 03:06
An incongruity of narratives— one expressed visually and corporeally, via photographs that document a "die-in" protest by Syrian human rights activists; the other expressed verbally via the soundtrack of a collection of edited speeches by an infamous political figure in the UK.
Documents a silent protest staged by Syrian democracy activists outside the Russian consulate in London. Embodies the concept of "wujoud" in its purest form: the physical presence of Syrian democrats standing outside the property of a foreign power that is attempting to erase them and their legacy from existence.
- (im)position - video installation. 2017.
- Testimony of a Former Detainee - film. 2017. Duration: 08:06
Makes use of found atrocity footage and a mirror, compelling its audience to question their own position (physically, politically and metaphorically) to the atrocity crime they witness in a projected video.
Takes the concept of the "absent image" to a literal extreme, presenting its audience with several minutes of black screen accompanied by the voice of a Syrian democrat recounting his experiences of imprisonment in a Syrian regime dungeon.
- The Propagandist - film. 2017. Duration: 26:05
A methodical debunking of pro-Assad propagandist and self-proclaimed independent journalist Eva Bartlett, that responds to her December 2016 press conference at the United Nations as part of a delegation represented by the Syrian regime’s permanent mission.
Professional Membership, Affiliation and Consultancy
- Arts Council England. DYCP grant. Awarded 2021.