Il n’y a que le bazar qui reste

On the road, even before reaching the outskirts of Damascus, the filmmaker and Payram, a Franco-iranian photographer, hear the call of a few notes of music and snatches of poetry. Payram discovered the city’s metal market three years ago, and now returns with his filmmaker friend. Behind the heavy metal shutters, there is nothing of worth, only practical objects, sheet metal and spare parts that need reworking since imports are scarce. They wander through workshops and darkly lit backshops in a suffocating atmosphere of dust and smoke. The deafening blows of metal-working alternate with voices of encounters and the two men’s conversation and daydreaming. For Payram, the faces he had photographed there awaken former memories of the Teheran metal market.