"Ever since the earthquake of December 2003, Bam in Southern Iran is nothing but rubble and ruin. Not only have its walls crumbled, exposing kitchens and courtyards, the hearts of its people too, appear to have fallen open. Like a ghost, the camera drifts through the town,

recording the everyday events of Bam?s inhabitants and picking up the intimate, inner conversations they have with their dear departed. In doing so, the film also touches upon the relationship between men and women in Iran and their relationship to God. Above all, ?Voices of Bam? is an ode to the indefatigable life-force embodied by the people of this town. The film is inspired by photographs that were recovered from the town?s debris...the only tangible mementoes left of life before the earthquake."

"Aliona van der Horst (1970) was born in Moscow, Russia, and grew up in the Netherlands. After she graduated Cum Laude at the University of Amsterdam in Russian Language and Literature in 1993, she started studying documentary filmmaking at the Dutch Film and Television Academy. Her graduation film ?The Lady with the White Hat? (1997) was awarded several times, nationally and internationally. Since then Aliona made various documentaries for Dutch public broadcasters: Chained (1997), The Little Red Box (1998), After the Spring of ?68 (2001), winner of a Dutch Academy Award for best documentary, Hermitaz-niks (2003), winner of a Dutch Academy Award for best Cultural Program and Relieved (2004).

Maasja Ooms (1968) studied Photography at the Dutch Academy of Arts and the Dutch Film and Television Academy. Maasja and Aliona have been working together since Aliona?s graduation film The Lady with the White Hat. She was DoP for many documentaries since. In 2003 she also started co-directing documentaries."