Sour Lips

Synopsis

Following the story of Amina Arraf, the blogger known as A Gay Girl In Damascus and the events surrounding the media's coverage of her kidnapping, Sour Lips fuses fantasy and non-fiction to create its own speculative narrative. Amina was walking near Fares Al-Khouri Street, Damascus, when three armed men seized her. According to an eyewitness, Amina was bustled into a red Dacia Logan with a bumper sticker of Basel Assad. The men are assumed to be members of the Ba'ath Party militia or one of the security services. Amina's present location is still unknown.

Our Review:

Theo Bosanquet - 1 February 2013

Though I applaud the attempt to dramatise the true story of Amina Arraf, a fake Syrian blogger created by American Tom MacMaster who hit headlines round the world in 2011 when she was supposedly kidnapped, I cannot say I cheered the result.

Amina, who blogged under the strapline 'A Gay Girl in Damascus', appealed to liberal Westerners with her stories of Islamic sexual repression and outspoken criticisms of the Assad regime. But when the whole thing turned out to be a fake some serious questions were raised, especially when the girl whose picture MacMaster had stolen from Facebook to be the face of his fictional lesbian counterpart (Jelena Lecic) found herself dragged into the controversy.

Paper Tiger's production - running as part of Ovalhouse's 'Counterculture 50' season - tells the tale through a medley of slick, if often obfuscating, techniques. The company of five sing acapella, rap and b...

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Latest User Review

Michael - 5 February 2013:

I saw this and the big question I was left with was -- did the alleged author, el Khairy, actually do anything other than cut and paste quoted text?...

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