'Under the Sky of Damascus' premieres at Berlin Film Festival
What's the story
The much-acclaimed Berlin Film Festival is back with its new edition and this year marks yet another set of brilliant films. Among all, Talal Derki and Heba Khaled's documentary Under the Sky of Damascus will premiere on Monday (February 20) in the panorama segment of the film festival. This documentary focuses on the atrocities faced by Syrian women in the war-torn country.
Details
Khaled spoke about being a survivor
Khaled herself is a survivor of the patriarchal violence that Syrian women are subjected to. Speaking about the documentary to Variety, she stated, "We decided to tell the story of women because they were absent in most of the Syrian documentary films [since the start of the war]. We had the will for a long time, and now was the time to do it."
Trivia
Crux of the documentary
The documentary follows a group of young Syrian women who want to produce a play that shows the shades of misogyny and sexual abuse the women of the country face in general. The duo has recorded testimonies across the socio-economic strata in the country. Derki is blacklisted by President Bashar al-Assad's regime but he has covered the civil war extensively.