Work continues on the production of a series of short documentaries entitled “A Story from Sur”, which documents the oral history narrated by the elderly and contemporary authors about Sur.
This initiative comes as part of the youth activities in the wilayat to preserve their history. Two episodes of the work were produced.
Ali Al Araimi said that the idea of this initiative reveals the role of the intangible cultural heritage to preserve the Omani heritage that is becoming oversight amid the acceleration of life. The production of documentaries is one of the means and tools that achieve this aim. Re-imagining historical events and visual memory is an easy way to market for the work and also can be used as a documented historical reference for future generations.
“The initiative comes under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth within the “Who are they” programme. The documentary series focus on highlighting and documenting contemporary personalities, producing scientific material and a historical reference to supply the libraries of schools and colleges. It also aims at working to preserve the terms and vocabulary used in that period and document the historical remaining monuments.
Ali said that there will be around 15 tales that focus on the historical aspects of Sur including its economic and social life, customs, traditions, rituals and the most prominent figures who contributed at making the history.
Al Araimi pointed out that the first episode of the series titled (The Sail) focuses on how to prepare the ship for sailing, how to choose the sailors and distribute the roles, then the journey to the north towards Basra. The second episode is entitled (Al Bandira course) highlights the movement of ships from Basra towards the coasts of Pakistan and India, all the way to Zanzibar. It covers the exchanged goods and commodities and the most important ports in which the captains reside.
The third episode was titled Al Maqdami and talks about the organizational structure of the ship, the distribution of roles, the importance of the Majdami (The chief of the seafarers, responsible for the work of the ship ) on board the ship and the mechanism of his selection. the fourth episode was titled (The Mangrove Journey), and the importance of the mangrove wood trade for ships.
To ensure that the story reached the target group, Al Araimi said: “The director of the work (Anwar Al Ruzaiqi), who won several awards in the production of short films, was hired. Accurately working on re-enactment of some important scenes, in addition to the use of a high-quality filming team from the youth of the willayat, Anwar is determined to produce a thrilling series for this work.
The writer Khaled bin Ali Al Mukhaini (retired captain) and author of the book “The Way to Sur” manages the historical documentation processes and observes the work methodology and the accuracy of the information presented.
