No Nation Films

A portrait of those trying to survive in the war-torn Middle East.

Lina’s plan was simple. She wanted to become a camerawoman. She liked filming details of life and people around her, mainly during a bright sunny day in Damascus. But with the uprising in Syria, Lina was slowly absorbed into documenting the impact on people’s lives. It didn’t take long before events escalated, and arrests, torture, and potentially life-threatening situations became a reality for Lina to negotiate on a daily basis. She had to adapt. She invented personas and aliases. They each helped her navigate life under a new norm. What was a simple plan, turned into a complex web of identities, which seemed then a small price in exchange for her liberty to continue to hold the camera.

They grew up in the land of dictators and surveillance, where images are censored, photos are burned, thoughts are discreet, and mouths are kept shut. They grew up in Syria.

A young Syrian woman doesn't share her parents' beliefs, but she's still been locked up inside their belief system all her life. Because she is a young woman, her parents almost never allow her to leave the house, let alone participate in activities against the Syrian regime. But she rebels anyway. She writes and sings protest songs in secret, in the hope that they will encourage others to start thinking for themselves, and to believe in a better tomorrow with more freedom. For 37 minutes, we watch and hear about what motivates this young woman. Neither she nor the people around her ever appear identifiable on-screen. Even the voices are manipulated to keep the chance of recognition to a minimum.