Documentary on Syrian artist Mohamad Hafez makes Oscars shortlist

Directed by Jimmy Goldblum, 'A Broken House' follows the personal story of the artist, known for recreating Damascene architecture through models pieced together by scrap materials

Mohamad Hafez in his studio. The artist is the subject of a documentary short film that has been shortlisted for an Oscar award. Photo: Cole Wilson

A deeply moving film about Syrian artist Mohamad Hafez is among 15 titles shortlisted for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 94th Academy Awards.

Presented by The New Yorker and directed by Jimmy Goldblum, A Broken House takes viewers into the life of Hafez, who after moving to the US on a single-entry visa to pursue his education and a career in architecture, starts recreating scenes of his home city of Damascus as a way to deal with his homesickness.

"If you can't get home, why don't you make home?" Hafez says in the 20-minute film.

Hafez then begins creating miniature models using scrap materials that he comes across. The models, which feature scenes of Syrian homes, were kept private until he started exhibiting his work in 2015.

'We have won' by Mohamad Hafez. Credit: Rodney Nelson

'Have you forsaken us' by Mohamed Hafez. Credit: Rodney Nelson

'Collateral damage' by Mohamad Hafez. Credit: Rodney Nelson

Mohamed Hafez’s New Haven studio is lined with stainless steel shelves housing buckets full of bits of junk, which he describes as his “ingredients of the day”. Credit: Cole Wilson

'We have won!' by Mohamed Hafez. Credit: Rodney Nelson

Unpacked Refugee Baggage' by Mohamed Hafez. Credit: Rodney Nelson

“I’ve been making these models for 15 years now, but for the first 10 years, my practice was completely confidential and for me only,” he says. “It’s not until relatively recently that people have said to me that I need to exhibit these works," says Mohamed Hafez. Credit: Rodney Nelson

'Unpacked Refugee Baggage' by Mohamad Hafez. Credit: Rodney Nelson

Making these miniature models – many of which are based on images Hafez has seen in newspapers and magazines – is no longer the cathartic experience it once was for Hafez, however. “If you are trying to remodel the ruins of Aleppo, I feel devastated after completing the work,” he says, “particularly when I incorporate the sound effects. You’re hearing children playing in the street and the call to prayer and church bells ringing. Anyone who has been to that region will recognise these noises as representations of a peace that no longer exists.” Credit: Rodney Nelson

'Unsettled Nostalgia' by Mohamed Hafez. Credit: Rodney Nelson

In 2019, the Sharjah Art Museum presented a solo exhibition of the artist's work titled Journeys from an Absent Present to a Lost Past. The show included works from his Baggage series as well as Hung Memories.

"There was this fire inside to start humanising refugees and to tell their stories," Hafez says in the film.

He is also later shown interviewing a displaced Syrian man whose life has been affected by the war in Syria.

Intimate and personal, A Broken House also features Hafez's parents, showing the toll war has on families and relationships. In one scene, Hafez, while visiting his mother, asks her to move to America, but she insists on returning to her home country. “What do you have in Syria?” he tearfully asks her several times.

Nominated films for the 94th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, February 8, 2022.

You can watch 'A Broken House' in full below:

Oscars 2022 shortlist for Best Documentary Short Subject:

• Aguilas
• Audible
• A Broken House
• Camp Confidential: America’s Secret Nazis
• Coded: The Hidden Love of J C Leyendecker
• Day of Rage
• The Facility
• Lead Me Home
• Lynching Postcards: "Token of a Great Day”
• The Queen of Basketball
• Sophie and the Baron
• Takeover
• Terror Contagion
• Three Songs for Benazir
• When We Were Bullies