Andreas Dalsgaard and Obaidah Zytoon: The War Show
Venice Days 2016 line-up: Opening the programme will be Denmark-Finland co-pro The War Show from co-directors Andreas Dalsgaard (Photo) and Obaidah Zytoon. A documentary road film chronicling the Syrian uprising and war, the film sees Zytoon sets off on a road trip around Syria, telling the Syrian story through a series of personal intimate stories. (Screendaily.com)
http://www.screendaily.com/news/venice-days-2016-line-up-unveiled/5107026.article#
Og Fridthjof Film / Line Bilenberg meddeler glade: ”Dansk film udtaget til Venedig. The War Show instrueret af Andreas Dalsgaard og Obaidah Zytoon får verdenspremiere på filmfestivalen i Venedig i sektionen “Venice Days”, hvor filmen både er i konkurrence samt udtaget som festivalens åbningsfilm.
10. august kan de stolte supplere med en meddelelse om at filmen også er udtaget til Toronto International Film Festival’s TIFF Doc Programme.
Dokumentarfilmen The War Show om krigen i Syrien instrueret af danske Andreas Dalsgaard og syriske Obaidah Zytoon er udtaget til “Venice Days” – og valgt som sektionens åbningsfilm. Venice Days, er Venedig Film Festivalens uafhængige sektion svarende til Cannes´prestige sektion Directors´Fortnight.
I 2011 bliver den syriske radio-dj Obaidah Zytoon og hendes venner revet med af opstanden imod regimet. De lever blandt kunstnere og aktivister og filmer deres liv, da de begynder at deltage i demonstrationerne mod præsident Assad. Men som opstanden udvikler sig til en blodig borgerkrig, bliver deres venskab testet af fængslinger, død og vold.
Zytoon forlader Damaskus og rejser til sin hjemby Zabadani, til rebellernes højborg Homs og til det nordlige Syrien, hvor hun oplever den spirende ekstremisme. The War Show er en personlig roadmovie, der følger Syriens skæbne og en gruppe venner, hvis liv og drømme forvandles til mareridt, alt imens landet synker sammen i kaos.
The War Show, der er skrevet af de to instruktører, er produceret af Miriam Nørgaard, Alaa Hassan og Ronnie Fridthjof for Fridthjof Film i samarbejde med Dharmafilm og co-produceret af October Oy. Filmen har modtaget støtte fra Det Danske Filminstitut ved filmkonsulent Klara Grunning-Harris og DR ved Mette Hoffmann Meyer, IMS og CKU i Danmark. Derudover mange internationale finansiører. Filmen forventes at få dansk premiere senere på året. ”
SYNOPSIS
In 2011, Syrian radio DJ Obaidah Zytoon and her friends are swept into the Syrian uprising. They live in a circle of artists and activists and begin to film their lives as they take to the streets in rallies against President Assad. But as the country spirals into a bloody civil war, their friendships are tested by imprisonment, death and violence. Zytoon leaves Damascus and travels to her hometown Zabadani, the centre of rebellion in Homs, and to northern Syria where she witnesses the rise of extremism. A highly personal road movie, The War Show tracks the destiny of Syria as we follow a group of friends whose lives and dreams turn into nightmares as their country descends into chaos. (DFI update)
Obaidah Zytoon
THE DIRECTORS
“… Obaidah Zytoon traverses the border, bringing out video to show the world the human side of the two-year conflict, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives. But she also imports a message into Syria, admonishing FSA combatants to comply with international rules of war and the tenets of the Koran in their treatment of war prisoners and civilians. A crusader for secular democracy, Zytoon espouses non-violent forms of resistance against both the Syrian regime and extremists involved in the conflict.” (Miriam Herschlag, The Times of Israel, March 14, 2013)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-the-syrian-warzone/
Andreas Dalsgaard, who graduated as fiction film director from the National Film School of Denmark in 2009, debuted as documentary director with Afghan Muscles (2007), winner of the Best Director prize at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles, and has since released Bogota Change (2009), The Human Scale (2012), the doc-fiction Travelling with Mr. T (2012) and Life is Sacred (2015). (DFI update)
Tue Steen Müller har her på Filmkommentaren skrevet om to af Andreas Dalsgaards tidligere film: Life is Sacred (2015) http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/3265/
og Afghan Muscels (2006) http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/64/
Dalsgaards mange film i øvrigt kan ses i listen her:
http://www.dfi.dk/faktaomfilm/person/da/163697.aspx?id=163697
PRODUCTION
The War Show is scripted by Andreas Dalsgaard and Obaidah Zytoon, with Miriam Nørgaard, Alaa Hassan and Ronnie Fridthjof producing for Fridthjof Film. The film is made in collaboration with Dharmafilm and co-produced with Oktober Oy of Finland, and it has received funding from the Danish Film Institute. (DFI update)
http://www.venice-days.com/film.asp?id=9&id_dettaglio=712&lang=eng
