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The regime’s biggest fears were those who held cameras, so they were the first to be eliminated.Ìý— Obaidah Zytoon, co-director,ÌýThe War Show

When the Arab Spring reached Syria in 2011, 35-year-old radio DJ Obaidah Zytoon joined the revolution armed with two things: a video camera and hope. The portrait that resulted—encapsulating both the euphoria of protest and the devastating violence—is the subject of the 2016 Venice Days Award-winning documentary,Ìý.

Against the brutal backdrop of chaos and civil war,ÌýThe War ShowÌýunfolds as an intimate account of the daily lives of Zytoon and her friends—among them a dentist, law student, and poet—and the transformations they endure documenting their own experiences of the Syrian conflict. But as protest marches turn into funerals, their ideas about the resistance—and their own identities—splinter. One thing, however, becomes clearer: the camera footage they collect doesn’t just record the revolution—it is the revolution.

On May 9,Ìý¹ú²úÊÓƵ NYC presented aÌýscreening ofÌýThe War ShowÌýand a conversation with the film’s producer and human rights experts on the state of the Syrian civil war, its estimated 11 million refugees, and what it’ll take to move closer to resolution and peace.

INTRODUCTION

Justine NaganÌý
Executive Director, American Documentary, Inc.
Executive Producer, POV & America ReFramed

PARTICIPANTS

Alaa HassanÌý
Producer,ÌýThe War Show

Sarah MehtaÌý
Attorney and Researcher, Human Rights Program, ACLU

Sana MustafaÌý
Syrian refugee and social activist

Gissou NiaÌý
Human rights lawyer and Strategy Director, PurposeÌý