Prison Doc

Amer Almatar  |  Documentary Film  |  2015  |  Syria
Producer: Diana El Jeiroudi
A pair of seasoned documentary filmmakers gain unprecedented access to a prison mandated by the Free Syrian Army, used to hold captured soldiers of Assad’s regime. Once inside, they find their usual arsenal of weapons as filmmakers—objectivity and distance—rendered useless. In a deeply imperfect situation, the two have only a brief chance to interview the prisoners and appraise the conditions inside the prison. Instead they find themselves tormented: their desire to do the just thing is contradicted by the insistent voice of their trauma, which cries out for retribution. This is a film about two indefatigable Syrian individuals, seeking desperately to do the just thing in a deeply unjust situation. The filmmakers grant us an unparalleled glimpse into the knotted web of ethics and circumstance in which they and their peers find themselves bound.