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"Sean McAllister's documentary about a family of Syrian refugees in Europe would be compelling at any time. Now it is unmissable. Five Stars." – The Guardian
Love can blossom in many places. For Raghda and Amer, it sprouted in neighbouring Syrian prison cells in the mid 1990s. As months passed by, the activists got to know each other through a secret hole in the wall that kept them apart. Upon their release, they married and had children.
In A Syrian Love Story, filmmaker Sean McAllister explores everything that came next: Raghda's return to jail as a political prisoner under the Al-Assad regime; Amer's attempts to raise their sons alone; their fleeing to Europe as refugees; and the toll their turbulent existence takes on their relationship, mental state and the perspectives of their children. Filmed over five years (with McAllister at one point arrested for filming), this disarmingly intimate and empathetic documentary delves into the stark reality of living on the cusp of revolution, shining a spotlight on the devastation not only of a decimated nation, but of a disintegrating family.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at 2015 Sheffield Doc/Fest.
"An essential act of witnessing; a crucial conduit to understanding." – Time Out London
Screens with A Man Returned.
