Director: Talal Derki
Script: Talal Derki
Cineamtographer: Kahtan Hasson
Editing: Anne Fabini
Sound: Sebastien Tesch
Music: K. S. Elias
Production:
Ansgar Frerich (Basis Berlin), Eva Kemme (Basis Berlin), Tobias N. Siebert (Basis Berlin), Hans Robert Eisenhauer (Basis Berlin), Talal Derki
International Sales:
Stephanie Fuchs
Autlook Filmsales
[email protected]
Tel. +43720346934
Year: 2017
Screening: 2019
HD, Colour, 52 min,
OV Arab & English with French Electronic Subtitles
Unreleased
After his Sundance award-winning documentary Return to Homs, Talal Derki returned to his homeland where he gained the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses mainly on the children, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up with a father whose only dream is to establish an Islamic Caliphate. Osama (13) and his brother Ayman (12) are in the center of the story. They both love and admire their father and obey his words, but while Osama seems to follow the path of Jihad, Ayman wants to go back to school. The film captures the moment when the children have to let go of their youth and are finally turned into Jihadi fighters. No matter how close the war comes—one thing they have already learned: they must not cry.
“The children are those who enable us to emotionally experience and understand the complex tragedy of Syria. Often, they are the ones who can look through all the madness, and in their own childlike way, they can save the hope.” Talal Derki
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