Sticky Archives - Passport Productions

Little Syria – Official Trailer

A story of unlikely quests. A search for the disappeared through rubble and tortured bodies, a race for survival, and the possibility of hope.

Filmed for over 20 years in Syria and Germany, as well as in Turkey, Greece, Poland, Hungary, France, Spain and Iran, “Little Syria” follows the quest of a brother, his sister and her boyfriend, trapped between a Syria from which they ran for their lives, and a Europe which seems at times to embrace them and at others to push them back.

In the time of making of this film, more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes. Syrians asked for asylum in more than 130 countries. Reem, Mohammed and Yasser try to make sense of what is left of the Syrian Revolution. “Little Syria” is a confidential insight into the invisible lives of Syrian refugees.

Edited by MADALINA ROSCA, REEM KARSSLI

Music by ANDREI KIVU

Artworks NAJAH AL-BUKAI

Filmed by REEM KARSSLI, DAVID SIMON GROSS

Production Manager LAURENTIU BRATAN

Colourist ANDU RADU

Sound Design MIHNEA CIULEI

Produced by PAUL ARNE WAGNER, MADALINA ROSCA

A Documentary by MADALINA ROSCA, REEM KARSSLI

Every Day, Every Day

Ten years ago, on the 15th of March 2011, the face of Syria changed forever when some brave people found the courage to go on the streets and protest in several cities around the country.

For the first time in decades, Syrian people protested in the name of freedom, demanding the Assad regime to step down. But Bashar al-Assad never stepped down, and the revolution shifted into a civil war. Until today, Bashar al-Assad, with the help of his allies, has been ruling Syria. But Syria is far from being the same country it was ten years ago, after half of the population was either killed, went missing, ran into exile or was displaced, with many cities turned to ruins and large parts of the Syrian cultural heritage destroyed.

The Syrian film-maker Reem Karssli, who lives today in exile in Berlin, documented the life of her family in Damascus at the time when the revolution was shifting into a civil war. At the time of its premiere at Dok Leipzig Film Festival in 2013, a critic from “Radio Mephisto” wrote: “This documentary film, which often reminds of “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Quiet Days in Sarajevo”, is a document per se, but also a question addressed to the film as medium and its ability to tell the truth” (Everyday, Everyday: The Syrian War as day-to-day Life).

Now that the main people in our film are out of the country and into safety, we decided to put the film online, free to watch for everybody.

Director and camera: Reem Karssli

Producers: Madalina Rosca and Maia Malas

Produced by Passport Productions & Metis Media

Premiered: 56th. Dok Leipzig Film Festival – Official Selection Awards and selection of Festivals: 42. Huesca Film Festival – Danzante Award, 29. Montenegro Film Festival – Special Jury Mention, 21. Raindance Film Festival, 12. Ischia Film Festival – Official Selection, 6. Which Human Rights? Film Festival – Official Selection, 8. We are the Peoples Film Festival – Official Selection, 33. Cine de Uruguay Film Festival, 16. Festival de Cine de Santa Fe de Antioquia Film Festival