OMAR AMIRALAY - SORROW, TIME, SILENCE

عمر أميرالاي – الألم والوقت والصمت

By Hala ALABDALLA

THE FESTIVAL AGENCY - as SALES festivals

Documentary - Completed 2021

In a Syria wounded by the tyrannical regime, Omar Amiralay dedicated his life to his country and to cinema. Forty years of political commitment and documentary filmmaking.

Festivals
& Awards

BFI London FF 2021
    • Year of production
    • 2021
    • Genres
    • Documentary, Social issues, Biography
    • Countries
    • SYRIA, FRANCE
    • Languages
    • ARABIC
    • Duration
    • 109 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Hala ALABDALLA
    • Synopsis
    • This is not a portrait of the Syrian director Omar Amiralay. This is not a cross-section of the current Syrian society, nor a longitudinal section of the fate of generations through fifty years under the yoke of a single political regime. This is not an intimate and free dialogue between two friends united by the sacred fire of cinema and a passion for freedom. This is not a testimony about a son's love for his mother or his unwavering belief in justice. This is a feature-length documentary that aspires to all of these things at once, like the braid of a young Syrian girl. Omar Amiralay was haunted by the Syrian cause, by the search for freedom and justice. He was one of the main opponents to Al Assad family and passed away in 2011. This film shows private moments of Hala Alabdalla's discussions with Omar before his death, having now a unique testimony of his life. At the same time, it is a broader reflexion about love and death, politics and cinema in the backdrop of the revolution. This is a film, a letter, about the bitter pain of absence.