The War Show

The war in Syria seen through the eyes of a radio host in the capital of Damascus. Obaidah Zytoon was playing forbidden music on the radio when the uprising broke out in 2011. She took to the streets together with her friends: a poet, an activist, an architecture student and a dentist. This is the family she has chosen, and we get to know them as playful, free spirits, creative and full of lust for life. Obaidah sets off on a journey through her country to document the changes taking place. In the process, she is dragged deeper and deeper into the escalating war. Demonstrations become funerals, and Assad’s tactics essentially boil down to a single decision: conform or starve. Some of Obaidah’s friends fare very badly indeed. “There is place for everybody in ‘The War Show,’ except the people,” Zytoon says in the thoughtful voice-over. The Syria as they know it is gone. This is her personal, courageous recording of the impact of the war on ordinary Syrians.