Syria | 2012 | 37’ | Arabic with English& French subtitles | Co-Directed with Guevara Namer
World Premier at IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2012 (alias names)

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A young Syrian woman doesn’t share her parents’ beliefs, but she’s still been locked up inside their belief system all her life. Because she is a young woman, her parents almost never allow her to leave the house, let alone participate in activities against the Syrian regime. But she rebels anyway. She writes and sings protest songs in secret, in the hope that they will encourage others to start thinking for themselves, and to believe in a better tomorrow with more freedom. For 37 minutes, we watch and hear about what motivates this young woman. Neither she nor the people around her ever appear identifiably on-screen. Even the voices are manipulated to keep the chance of recognition to a minimum. This makes it painfully clear what kind of world they’re living in – and how far their dreams and desires are removed from the reality of their lives. But in spite of it all, the woman continues to write and sing – so that she doesn’t have to stand by and look on powerlessly, and so she can experience just a tiny part of the freedom she’s dreaming of.

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Festivals & Nominations

• 2012 IDFA (World Premier)
• 2013 Paris Human Rights Film Festival
• 2013 International Film Festival & Forum on Human Rights in Geneva
• 2015 International Film Festival Freiburg
• TV: Arte, Alarabiya – 2013

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