Social & External
Dubai - the city of controversies. Six individuals go through personal insecurities, cultural pressures, money issues and the hustle of staying true to who they are. In the world that says otherwise. Is it all really worth it ? The film touches upon Arab identity, female role in the world, family values, Islam.
When artist Janet Biehl fell in love with radical American philosopher Murray Bookchin in the 1980s whilst editing his ground-breaking opus “The Ecology of Freedom”, she could never have imagined that it would one day take her halfway across the globe. Now, over 40 years later, Janet travels from America to the Middle East to witness something remarkable - how Murray’s ideas have ignited a female-led revolution in North-East Syria, where society is being rebuilt in the wake of victory over ISIS. Janet meets the women who are turning her late partner’s political theories into a modern reality, creating a grassroots communal democracy. Janet draws what she sees, and her illustrations capture the humanity of ordinary people in their struggle to self-govern. Now, at this critical moment for Syria and with this revolutionary project under renewed threat, "Threads of a Revolution" reveals a possible way forward for those prepared to fight for a new way to live.
In focusing his attention on the competitors of Mr Gay Syria, director Ayse Toprak shatters the one-dimensional meaning of “refugee”. Using the pageant as a means of escape from political persecution, the organiser Mahmoud — already given asylum in Berlin — hopes to offer the winner a chance to travel as well as bring international attention to the life-threatening situations faced by LGBT Syrians.
In 2012 Dalya and her mother Rudayna fled Aleppo for Los Angeles as war took over. Months before, Rudayna learns a secret that destroys her marriage, leaving her single at midlife. Arriving in LA, Dalya enrolls as the only Muslim at Holy Family Catholic High School. Can mother and daughter remake themselves while holding on to their Islamic traditions?
Documentary following a team of technicians in Italy as they reconstruct a number of historic Middle Eastern artifacts that were vandalized at the hands of Islamic State.
As the Syrian war continues to leave entire generations without education, health care, or a state, Lost in Lebanon closely follows four Syrians during their relocation process. The resilience of this Syrian community, which currently makes up one fifth of the population in Lebanon, is astoundingly clear as its members work hard to collaborate, share resources, and advocate for themselves in a new land. With the Syrian conflict continuing to push across borders, lives are becoming increasingly desperate due to the devastating consequences of new visa laws that the Lebanese government has implemented, leaving families at risk of arrest, detention, and deportation. Despite these obstacles, the film encourages us to look beyond the staggering statistics of displaced refugees and focus on the individuals themselves.
The documentary The Silent Revolution explains the revolution involving nearly 3 million kurds living in Syria. With the outbreak of the civil war —in the frame of the called ‘Arab Spring'— the Kurds of Syria have taken advantage of the context to fight for their political and cultural recognition and thus end the repression that started more than 50 years ago.
The first documentary to present an unabashed critique of the impact of the Syrian government’s agricultural and land reforms, Everyday Life in a Syrian Village delivers a powerful jab at the state’s conceit of redressing social and economic inequities.
A witness testimonial by the Syrian people with regards to what has happened to their country. It's a story told by those who couldn't leave, those who chose to stay to fight the war and those who had to leave their motherland.
A documentary film about Syria with its diverse civilizations and history. Where the hero of the film gets lost between his questions about history, culture, and identity, and his attempts to see the story of Syrian history. In the film, the narrator takes us on a journey through Syrian history that diversifies into five basic civilizational shifts, from the agricultural revolution to writing and the emergence of cities to trade until the advent of Christianity and up to the cultural achievement of Islamic civilization.
While living in a deserted valley in eastern Lebanon, seven-year-old Rahaf describes the wonders of her past, present and future – without knowing the limits of her own imagination.
In the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, Newsweek Middle East editor, Janine di Giovanni, risks it all to bear witness, ensuring that the world knows about the suffering of the Syrian people.
The story of iconic Syrian peace activist Ghiyath Matar whose brutal torture and death at the age of 26 outraged the international community and erupted into one of the most violent uprisings in modern history.
A powerful investigation into the political and criminal enterprise of kidnappings as ISIS rose to power in war torn Syria. It inter cuts exclusive footage with interviews of negotiators, investigators, fixers and even a used car salesman who are caught up in the confusion.
The film follows the refugee crisis in 2015 and 2016 from the perspective of a young Lebanese woman, Boushra Jaber. She came to Serbia in 2015 to work on her PhD. Driven by a deep desire to help she started working as an Arabic translator in a refugee camp in Presevo, on the Serbian-Macedonian border. During her three months in the field, Boushra faced personal and professional challenges that put her beliefs to the test.
Shot by a reported “1,001 Syrians” according to the filmmakers, SILVERED WATER, SYRIA SELF-PORTRAIT impressionistically documents the destruction and atrocities of the civil war through a combination of eye-witness accounts shot on mobile phones and posted to the internet, and footage shot by Bedirxan during the siege of Homs. Bedirxan, an elementary school teacher in Homs, had contacted Mohammed online to ask him what he would film, if he was there. Mohammed, working in forced exile in Paris, is tormented by feelings of cowardice as he witnesses the horrors from afar, and the self-reflexive film also chronicles how he is haunted in his dreams by a Syrian boy once shot to death for snatching his camera on the street.
In Zaatari, Jordan – one of the world’s biggest refugee camps – Maamun owns a little shop: a small white container aligned in a seemingly endless row of identical containers. There he repairs mobile phones of the numerous Syrian refugees. They are anxious to retrieve the devices’ content which consists of memories from the past, a time when the war had yet to begin and they were not yet refugees but just ordinary people. Maamun and his friend Karim invent a new way to satisfy their customers: they buy a printer to print the photos, allowing the camp dwellers to retrieve some of their identity. The film provides an insight into the daily goings-on in a refugee camp.
In her documentary, the Scottish-Syrian director tries to reconcile the two worlds in her head: her fond memories of visiting relatives in Damascus and what has happened in Syria since then. She confronts her cousin, who fled from there, with her recordings from then - and thus calls back memories that were buried under trauma.
