ZENA’S PHONE
Zena fled Aleppo for Germany with her husband and their young daughter and currently lives in Ahrweiler. On her phone she followed the bombardment and evacuation of East Aleppo and also the messages from her friend D., who is running a women’s center in Idlib province – a region in the north of Syria controlled by Islamist rebel groups. D. refuses to give up, despite the danger. She is planting vegetables next to her house and teaching women how to escape the sense of paralysis as the region is heavily bombed.
„I can only imagine my life in blue and white.”
(Zena)
OMAR’S PHONE
Omar Alsawadi fled from Deir ez-Zor and keeps in contact with friends who are still holding out in the ISIS-occupied city. Filming can only be done in secret and at extreme risk.
Nevertheless, friends send videos, photos and information: about the reprisals of the occupiers, about supply problems and also about the impossibility of leaving a city where the penalty is execution if one is caught.
Omar spreads news and videos on social networks. He feels obliged to support his friends in Syria. In addition, Omar watches ISIS propaganda videos, searching for the names of people who have been executed as well as for the perpetrators so they can be brought to justice in future trials. Sometimes he comes across the names of people he knows.
“I feel more responsibility than desire to do this work.”
(Omar)
SHAHINAZ’S PHONE
Shahinaz lives in Lausanne. In Syria she was a social worker. She was engaged in the revolution but her problems became increasingly intense.
She fled to Switzerland, leaving her family – her mother, sister, nieceand brother-in-law – behind in Syria. She thought she could help them to reach Europe through family reunification. This turned out to not be possible, so she tries to get them out of the war zone by any other means.
“If I could only look out the window.
After five years of prison, I can tell you, this can drive you crazy!”
(J.)
AMJAD’S PHONE
Amjad’s friend J. is in prison. For more than five years, without trial. He is one of the thousands of people who disappeared and were tortured in security detention or held in prisons without charges.
Amjad is J.’s best friend. He himself survived security detention and knows how his friend feels. He supports him by sending him money to pay for the phone J. managed to smuggle inside the prison and he calls or texts every day to encourage his friend.
The Trailer
Read more