• Return to Homs

    Return to Homs



  • Return to Homs

    Return to Homs



  • Return to Homs

    Return to Homs



  • Return to Homs

    Return to Homs



Return to Homs

by Talal Derki 

Return to Homs

Syria, Germany, Sweden | 2013 | 91:00 min

Original Title:
HOMS — EIN ZERSTÖRTER TRAUM

Content Categories

Documentary
91mins or 53mins original Arabic version with English, Spanish, French or German subtitles available
Synopsis
Filmed between August 2011 and August 2013, this is a remarkably intimate portrait of a group of young revolutionaries in the city of Homs in western Syria. They dream of their country being free from President Bashar al-Assad and fight for justice through peaceful demonstrations. As the army acts ever more brutally and their city is transformed into a ghost town, the young men become armed insurgents. The protagonists are two friends: Basset, the charismatic 19-year-old goalkeeper of the national soccer team whose revolutionary songs make him the voice of the protest movement, and the 24-year-old media activist and cameraman Ossama. The close-up camerawork takes the viewer right into the group. Scenes of lively protest parties make way for panicking civilians on the run, followed by grim battles in a deserted city, and rising numbers of fallen loved ones. Basset's a cappella protest songs are the only soundtrack, apart from the "silence, interrupted only by birds and bullets." From time to time, the director makes a comment in voice-over: "The world is watching how we are getting killed one by one, while it remains silent as the grave."
Festivals/Awards
2014
Sundance Grand Jury Award for World Documentary, IDFA Opening Night Film, George Polk Award for Documentary, Golden Horn at the Krakow Film Festival… among many others.
2022
35 IDFA – Top 10
Cast and Crew
  • Director Talal Derki 
  • Producer Hans-Robert Eisenhauer, Orwa Nyrabia
  • Director of Photography Orwa Nyrabia, Kahtan Hassoun, Ossama Al Homsi, Talal Derki
  • Editor Anne Fabini
  • Cutter assistant Martin Reimers
Original Languages

Arabic

Production Company
VENTANA FILM GMBH
Meinekestr. 24, 10719 Berlin

Phone: +49 30 25432468

hre@ventana-film.com
http://www.ventana-film.de
Co-Production Company
NO NATION FILMS GmbH
Germany
no-nation.de
Links / Reference
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