Ode To Lesvos

Immediately after the US pullout from Afghanistan, Taliban forces occupied the Hollywood Gate complex, which is claimed to be a former CIA base in Kabul.

Talal Derki returns to his homeland where he gains the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses on Osama and his younger brother Ayman, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up in an Islamic Caliphate.

Filmed over 3 years in Homs, accompanying 2 outstanding young men from the time they were only dreaming of freedom to the time when they are forced to change course. Basset, the 19yo national football team goalkeeper, who became an outspoken demonstration leader in the city, then an icon revolution singer, till he becomes a fighter... a militia leader. Ossama, his 24yo friend, renowned citizen journalist, cynical pacifist... as his views are forced to change, until he is detained by army secret service. It is the story of a city, of which the world have heard a lot, but never really got closer than news, never really had the chance to experience how a war erupted. a modern times epic of youth in war time.

People of the Wasteland is an experimental short-film, in a first-person point of view, depicting the clashes of Syrian fighters in the front line. In the chaos of war, the lines between right and wrong become blurred. This exclusive Go-Pro footage from inside war aims to remind us that in a territory where the landscape and the people are ephemeral because of war, only the camera can remain alive, and only the image of a certain moment can remain eternal.

Experiencing violence is commonplace for Syrian women but they do not discuss the prevalence of – often sexual – exploitation for fear of revenge. A collective of young women want to break the taboo with a theatre project. But how free are they themselves?

Summer of 2011. Abdel Basset Sarout, an already renowned 19-year-old footballer, becomes one of the leaders of the peaceful demonstrations in Homs that take to the streets every Friday in defiance of Bashar el-Assad's regime. His improvised songs against the dictatorship inflamed the city's youth. He is the leader of a fiery band of chabab (young people) determined to do battle with the regime, including a 24-year-old videographer, Osama, who prefers the role of witness to that of fighter. Little by little, under his eyes and those of director Talal Derki, as the regime targets the civilian population, the young dissidents are transformed into warriors. From autumn onwards, massive bombardments pounded the "capital of the revolution".