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A Syrian Love Story (2015)

Filmed over 5 years, A Syrian Love Story charts an incredible odyssey to political freedom in the West. For Raghda and Amer, it is a journey of hope, dreams and despair: for the revolution, their homeland and each other.

Amer, 45, met Raghda, 40, in a Syrian prison cell 15 years ago. He first saw her bloodied face after a beating when she was placed in a neighboring cell. Over months they communicated through a tiny hole they’d secretly made in the wall. They fell in love and when released got married and started a family together.

This film tells the poignant story of their family torn apart by the tyrannical Assad dictatorship. Filming began in Syria in 2009, prior to wave of revolutions and changes in the Arab world – at the time, Raghda was a political prisoner and Amer was caring for their young children alone. We filmed in the thriving heart of the Yarmouk Camp in Damascus – now an infamous news story as its inhabitants are being starved to death by the Assad regime. At 4 and 14, Bob and Kaka have already spent their whole lives watching either their father or mother go to prison for their political beliefs. Quiet, considerate and mature, Kaka tells me how he is prepared to follow his mother and father to prison for the price of freedom.

This intimate family portrait helps us to understand why people are literally dying for change in the Arab world. Yet, as Raghda is released from prison, filmmaker Sean McAllister himself is arrested for filming and the political pressure around all activists intensifies. The family flee to Lebanon, and then to France where they are given political asylum in the sleepy town of Albi, where they now watch the revolution from afar, waiting for Assad to fall.

However, in exile, Raghda’s mental heath suffers. She attempts suicide. We see their new life in France develop but the war is now between them. In finding the freedom they fought so hard for, their relationship is beginning to fall apart.

“Filmed over a period of five years, this intimate and insightful documentary perfectly balances the personal and the political, telling its tale of national and international upheavals through their impact on individuals at the cutting edge of change. This is a profoundly moving account of two love stories: that between the film’s central couple, Amer and Raghda, who are torn apart by imprisonment and exile; the other being their love for Syria, which casts a long shadow over their lives, their marriage and their children.” – © Mark Kermode, The Guardian

See a selection of reviews for A Syrian Love Story

A Syrian Love Story. BFI and BBC Storyville / DR / SVT (2015)

World Premiere 21:15 Sunday June 7, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015, ITN Source Showroom 4. Directed by Sean McAllister, Producers Sean McAllister and Elhum Shakerifar, Film Editor Matt Scholes, Story Editor Johnny Burke, Composer Terence Dunn, Colourist Paul Fallon, On-line Editor Andrew Mitchell, Dubbing Mixer Bob Jackson. Executive Producers Lizzie Francke, Nick Fraser and Kate Townsend, Axel Arnö, Mette Hoffmann Meyer and Hoshang Waziri. A Syrian Love Story is a Tenfoot Films Production.

Music by Le Trio Joubran, Samih Choukaer, Zoe Keating, A Winged Victory For The Sullen and Bo Harwood.

Awards and Nominations

2016 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA); Nomination – Best Debut

2015 British Independent Film Awards; Nomination – Best Documentary

2015 European Film Awards; Nomination – Best Documentary

2015 The Critics Circle; Nomination – Documentary Of The Year

2015 Sheffield Doc/Fest – Grand Jury Award… “The Jury were enamored by this Bergmanesque portrait of a relationship and love, taking place against an ever-changing and tumultuous backdrop. Delivering unusual gender portraits it explores vulnerabilities, looking at the concept of belonging, providing a unique and intimate portrait of disillusionment.

Biografilm Festival 2015 – Special Jury Award | Special Mention… “For the courage and tenacity to tell, with a direct language and without filters, a story of love and war by bringing us in the daily life of a family distorted by idealism and violence.

The Guardian – Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian rates A Syrian Love Story as the 3rd Best UK Film of 2015… Read more

Links

A Syrian Love Story has its own dedicated website but you can also get up-to-date news from Facebook and Twitter. A Syrian Love Story is available to download/stream from the BFI website and through iTunes.