Film Night, with Soudade Kaadan

About the evening

Explore how tracing cultures, histories, and myths can be reimagined through the moving image at an evening screening of two works by award-winning Syrian filmmaker, Soudade Kaadan - When The Tiles Spoke (2026) and Damascus Roof and Tales of Paradise (2010).

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion exploring the use of animation and illustration in documentary storytelling.
 

The films

When The Tiles Spoke (2026) is a hybrid fiction film that blends magical realism and dreamscape, taking viewers on an immersive, emotional journey. Through film, narration and animation, the magnificent tiles in the Arab Hall come alive, finding their own voice to recount their origins and their journey to Leighton House. Commissioned by Leighton House as part of the interdisciplinary project, The Arab Hall: Past and Present.

Damascus Roof and Tales of Paradise (2010) explores the intersection of folklore, memory, and the rapid modernization of the Old City of Damascus. It uses magical realism and animation to blend the city's rich oral storytelling traditions with the daily lives of families facing urban change.

Useful information

• The panel includes Soudade Kaadan and celebrated Syrian author-illustrator Nadine Kaadan.
• Film runtimes; When The Tiles Spoke (12 minutes); Damascus Roof and Tales of Paradise (51 minutes).
• Doors open at 6:30pm for the chance to explore the historic house, including the iconic Arab Hall. Screenings will take place in Leighton's studio.
• Paid bar available throughout the evening.

Meet the panel

Soudade Kaadan is a Sundance- and Venice-winning Syrian filmmaker, born in Paris, raised in Damascus, and based in London. Her debut feature The Day I Lost My Shadow won the Lion of the Future at Venice, where she later returned with Nezouh, winner of the 2022 Audience Award, making her the only Arab woman to win twice at Venice. Her short Aziza won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. Her films have been released theatrically across the UK, Europe, and the MENA region, and streamed globally on Netflix. She has served on juries including Venice, CPH:DOX, and BAFTA.

Stefanie Van de Peer is Assistant Professor in Film Studies at Trinity College Dublin. She specialises in documentary cinema from the Middle East and Africa. Her research focuses on Arab and African women's contributions to cinema history and women's solidarity networks. She is also a film festival organiser, with 20 years of experience as a curator and programmer. Her latest book Stretching the Archives: Towards a Global Women’s Film Heritage was published with Archive Books in 2025. Before that, she wrote Negotiating Dissidence: The Pioneering Women of Arab Documentary (EUP, 2017), Animation in the Middle East (Bloomsbury 2017, Women in African Cinema (with Bisschoff, Routledge, 2020). She is also series editor of the ReFocus: International Directors book series at Edinburgh University Press.

Nadine Kaadan is an award winning children’s book author and illustrator. Her mission it is to spread reading culture in the Arab world in a way that is inspired by Syria’s rich heritage. Her work with young refugees in mitigating post-conflict trauma has captured the attention of CNN and the BBC, both of which have broadcast special features on her books ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘The Jasmine Sneeze’. She has been nominated for a Kate Greenaway Medal, is the 2019 winner of the Arab British Centre Award for Culture and was selected as one of The BBC 100 Women 2020’s ‘most influential and inspiring women’.
 

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