Cries from Syria

Jan 22, 2017

1h 52m

★ 7.3

Overview

An attempt to re-contextualize the European migrant crisis and ongoing hostilities in Syria, through eyewitness and participant testimony. Children and parents recount the revolution, civil war, air strikes, atrocities and ongoing humanitarian aid crises, in a portrait of recent history and the consequences of violence.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

HBO Documentary Films

Afineevsky - Tolmor Production

Cinepost

Enab Baladi

Smart News Agency

Cries from Syria Trailers

Cast

Himself

Hadi Al Abdullah

Himself

Raed Al Saleh

Narrator

Helen Mirren

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.

0.0

The Story Won't Die

Apr 29, 2021

THE STORY WON’T DIE, from Award-winning filmmaker David Henry Gerson, is an inspiring, timely look at a young generation of Syrian artists who use their work to protest and process what is currently the world’s largest and longest ongoing displacement of people since WWII. The film is produced by Sundance Award-winner Odessa Rae (Navalny). Rapper Abu Hajar, together with other creative personalities of the Syrian uprising, a post-Rock musician (Anas Maghrebi), members of the first all-female Syrian rock band (Bahila Hijazi + Lynn Mayya), break-dancer (Bboy Shadow), choreographer (Medhat Aldaabal), and visual artists (Tammam Azzam, Omar Imam + Diala Brisly), use their art to rise in revolution and endure in exile in this new documentary reflecting on a battle for peace, justice and freedom of expression. It is an uplifting and humanizing look at what it means to be a refugee in today’s world and offers inspiring and hopeful vantages on a creative response to the chaos of war.

0.0

The Volunteers

Nov 11, 2017

Filmmaker River Hagg travels to war-torn Syria, in hopes of documenting the war between the YPG and ISIS. He eventually finds himself in a volunteer unit, the only medics on the battlefield.

7.2

Born in Syria

Nov 6, 2016

This intimate documentary follows a group of Syrian children refugees who narrowly escape a life of torment and integrate into a foreign land.

5.0

The Matchmaker

Aug 31, 2022

A unique interview with Tooba Gondal, the woman who groomed and lured scores of Western women to join ISIS. Using social media, she became a deadly matchmaker, recruiting a number of high-profile “jihadi brides” for ISIS militants in Syria: she allegedly helped organise the transporting of three British schoolgirls, including Shamima Begum, to Syria.

7.0

Heval

Sep 23, 2021

When a British-born actor abandons his Hollywood career to volunteer to Join the Kurdish YPG to fight ISIS in Syria, many see him as a selfless hero battling America's most insidious enemy. But others think he's a hot-tempered narcissist, staging a publicity stunt to further his career - and when his service ends, neither the UK nor the US welcome him back. Through incisive interviews with the actor, his supporters, his detractors, and top-tier experts - and featuring the actor's own jaw-dropping helmet-cam video of deadly battles with and interrogations of ISIS fighters - Heval gives viewers unprecedented access into a war against evil and one man's controversial role in it.

0.0

My Memory Is Full of Ghosts

Oct 10, 2024

Like a visual elegy, My Memory Is Full of Ghosts explores a reality caught between past, present and future in Homs, Syria. Behind the self-portrait of an exsanguinated population in search of normality emerge memories of the city, haunted by destruction, disfigurement and loss. A deeply moving film, a painful echo of the absurdity of war and the strength of human beings.

8.1

Commander Arian

Apr 29, 2018

On the front line of the Syrian war, a 30-year-old commander leads her female battalion to retake an ISIS-controlled city and emerges severely wounded, forcing her to redefine herself in this empowering tale of emancipation and freedom.

7.1

Salam Neighbor

Jun 20, 2015

Two Americans deliberately head to the edge of war, just seven miles from the Syrian border, to live among 80,000 uprooted refugees in Jordan's Za'atari refugee camp.

8.5

My War

Apr 29, 2018

A disturbing portrait of four Western volunteers who risk their lives to fight ISIS alongside Kurdish forces. The feature documentary 'My War' probes the complex motives behind the need to take up arms on someone else’s behalf.

8.8

Girls' War

Mar 8, 2016

As the forces of ISIS and Assad tear through villages and society in Syria and Northern Iraq, a group of brave and idealistic women are taking up arms against them—and winning inspiring victories. Members of “The Free Women’s Party” come from Paris, Turkish Kurdistan, and other parts of the world. Their dream: To create a Democratic Syria, and a society based on gender equality. Guns in hand, these women are carrying on a movement with roots that run 40 years deep in the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey. GIRL’S WAR honors the legacy of Sakine Cansiz, co-founder of the PKK who was assassinated in Paris in 2013, and reflects on the sacrifices made by all of the women in the movement, who have endured jail, rape, war, and persecution in their quest to liberate their lives and sisters from male dominance. With scenes of solidarity, strength, and love amongst these brave women soldiers, GIRL'S WAR is a surprising story of Middle Eastern feminism on the front lines.

8.2

For Sama

Jul 26, 2019

A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.

8.0

Black Box Syria: The Dirty War

Oct 2, 2020

A look back over nine years of the Syrian Civil War, an inextricable conflict, like a black box, due to the competing interests of the many factions in presence and those of the foreign powers.

6.9

Last Men in Aleppo

Feb 27, 2017

A searing example of boots-on-the-ground reportage follows the efforts of the internationally recognized White Helmets, an organization consisting of ordinary citizens who are the first to rush towards military strikes and attacks in the hope of saving lives. Incorporating moments of both heart-pounding suspense and improbable beauty, the documentary draws us into the lives of three of its founders — Khaled, Subhi, and Mahmoud — as they grapple with the chaos around them and struggle with an ever-present dilemma: do they flee or stay and fight for their country?

7.4

The White Helmets

Sep 16, 2016

As daily airstrikes pound civilian targets in Syria, a group of indomitable first responders risk their lives to rescue victims from the rubble.

0.0

The Hunt for Jihadi John

May 20, 2019

The inside story of Mohammed Emwazi's journey from being an ordinary London boy to becoming terrorist 'Jihadi John', and the intelligence operatives' attempts to catch him.

7.5

HyperNormalisation

Oct 25, 2016

We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…

0.0

Palmyra: Rising from the Ashes

Mar 19, 2017

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.

0.0

In Syrien auf Montage

Oct 1, 1971

The film is a reportage showing the help of workers from the GDR in the industrial reconstruction of Syria. We witness the friendly relationship between workers from both countries, who are jointly involved in the construction of the cotton spinning mill in Homs. In impressive pictures the exoticism of the environment and the mentality of the Syrian hosts is shown. At the same time it becomes clear that the workers from the GDR become 'ambassadors of the GDR' through their collegial behaviour and good work.

Cries from Syria

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Cries from Syria Trailers