Our Terrible Country

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The spring of 2015 marks the 4th anniversary of the Syrian Revolution. While current developments leave little hope for an end of the conflict in the near future, individual stories are often overshadowed by political battles. What started as a pacifist movement has transformed into a civil war earmarked by destruction and brutality of the Syrian regime and ISIS.

'Our Terrible Country' takes us on the perilous journey of Yassin Haj Saleh, a well-known Syrian intellectual and dissident, and the young photographer Ziad Homsi who travel together on a dangerous route from the liberated area of Douma/Damascus to Raqqa in northern Syria, only to find themselves eventually forced to leave their home country for a temporary exile in Turkey. The film tells the story about the relationship between two men from different generations who have been involved in the Revolution since the beginning, each in their own way, and reveals respectively their hopes, deceptions and defeats.

'Our Terrible Country' has won the Grand Prix of the International Competition at the Marseille Festival of Documentary Film (FID) in 2014, the Prix Ulysse CCAS-Agglomération de Montpellier of International Competition Documentary Films at Cinemed Festival 2014 Montpellier/France and was also awarded Best Film of International Competition at the 2014 Forumdoc Festival Belo Horizonte in Brasil.

Program:

The Heinrich Böll Foundation and New America are pleased to host a screening followed by a panel discussion with the director Mohammad Ali Atassi, and the producer, Christin Luettich. The discussion will be moderated by Leila Hilal, senior fellow at New America.

6:00 PM: Film screening 'Our Terrible Country', directed by Ziad Homsi and Mohammad Ali Atassi

7:30 PM: Panel Discussion

The screening will be free of charge and a reception will follow. Snacks can be purchased at the cinema.