It never occurred to Syrian filmmaker Nidal Hassan and Lilibeth Rasmussen (Danish artist) that the day of their arrival to Damascus - March 16, 2011 - would be the day preceding the announcement of the uprising in Syria.
Between Damascus, Sweida and Ein Al Arab, the film tries to gather details of stories of absent women and other women who would present their own testimonies about themselves and about love, life, death and sometimes about the revolution.
Difficult months go by, friends disappear unwillingly in jails, and friends leave forcefully… and a longing to freedom, dignity and justice for which Syrians have conferred a lot of blood.
Nidal moves around with his camera in attempt to record Syrians' daily journals subjected to pain, oppression, blood and hope. Between Damascus and Copenhagen, two filmmakers from two different cultures try to tell real stories of love, life and death in the age of the revolution.
The Danish artist Lilibeth Cuenca arrived in Damascus in March last year to make a film with Nidal Hassan. The next day, the Syrian people’s uprising broke out. The film the two had actually planned about Syrian women’s struggle for a life in freedom suddenly turned into something completely different: a film about an entire people’s struggle for freedom. The two quickly decided to travel around between Damascus, Swaida and Ayn al-Arab, to gather first-hand stories about love, life and death – three topics that suddenly became all the more important in the light of the revolution. But the production of the film itself became equally dramatic. After Lilibeth’s return to Denmark, friends and acquaintances started disappearing, while Nidal continued to document the Syrian’s fight against the regime – until he also disappeared for a longer period, and left behind him a void of fear for his life. But Nidal returned, and the film, which is commissioned by DOX:LAB and could be seen in an temporary version edited by Lilibeth Cuenca at last year’s CPH:DOX, is now finally complete. A film, which more than any other is made of blood, sweat and tears – and the hope for a better future.
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