United Kingdom 2015, 76 min, Arabic, English and French, Hebrew & English subtitles
“You can’t be Che Guevara and a mother,” Amer tells Raghda, but that’s what she wants. Maybe she can’t have it any other way. After years of struggle, Raghda, a revolutionary activist in Syria, feels that far from her homeland and the revolution, life has no meaning. Amer and Raghda met in a Syrian prison twenty years earlier. They fell in love and had a family, but now they are forced to wander aimlessly with their four children in fear for their lives, while the violence around them threatens their relationship. “She’s strong, and I’m weak,” Amer admits, but in this bold, intimate film, one wonders whether it is revolutionary fervor or the search for inner peace that demands greater strength. Director Sean McAllister followed them for five years, served time in a Syrian prison, and had footage confiscated. He shares a very personal story, shaped entirely by an unfolding historical drama.
Previous Festivals: Sheffield, IDFA, CPH:DOX, One World
