Return to Homs, Made in Syria
Orwa Nyrabia which produced the Sundance award winning documentary Return to Homes was a guest at Filmrummet, were we screened the film followed up by an interview on stage by axel Arnö from SVT (Swedish Public Service television)
Orwa Nyrabia is an independent Syrian documentary film producer, filmmaker, actor and writer.
See the interview:
In 2002, he co-founded the first independent film production and distribution company in Syria. He and his partner and wife, Diana El Jeiroudi, launched the international documentary film festival DOX BOX in early 2008, which grew into the most important documentary film gathering in the Arab World.
The fifth edition of the festival, planned for March 2012, was cancelled in protest of the Syrian government's crackdown on protesters during the on-going Syrian uprising. This led to Syrian documentary films being shown in festivals around the world in what was termed the "Dox Box Global Day."
In 2013, Nyrabia produced the documentary film Return to Homs, by Syrian filmmaker Talal Derki, and the film became the very first film from the Arab World to open IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), in November 2013. It was also shown at the Gothemburg International Film Festival in 2014 and was awarded the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival.
Return to Homs
Filmed over three years in Homs, Syria, the film accompanies two outstanding young men from the time they are dreaming of freedom and defending pacifism, to the time when choices are forced to be different.
Basset, the 19 years old national football team goalkeeper, turning into an iconic demonstration leader and singer, then, becoming a fighter and Ossama, a 24 years old renowned citizen-cameraman who is critical, pacifist, and ironic, as his views change till he is detained by the regime's security forces.
It is the story of a city, which the world heard of a lot, but never really got close to. Return to Homs is a modern times epic of youth in war, and of forced choices.
PRODUCTION FACTS
Return to Homs is a production of Proaction Film and Ventana Films.
Directed by Talal Derki
Produced by Orwa Nyrabia and Hans Robert Eisenhauer
Associate Producer Diana El Jeiroudi
Cinematography by K. Hassoun, O. Al Homsi, T. Derki and O. Nyrabia.
Editing by Anne Fabini and Martin Reimers
Communication Concept and Design by Ali Mahmoud
With the Support of: AFAC, IDFA Bertha Fund, IMS, Norwegian MoFA.
Associated Broadcasters: SWR/Arte (Coproduction), NHK, SVT, TSR, CBC.
Arabic with English subtitles, 2013, 90 minutes, Syria/Germany.
Published 11 August 2015