In Syria

In Syria (Une famille syrienne), directed by Philippe Van Leeuw, is a Belgian film set entirely within a single day in a middle class apartment in Damascus, with a sniper waiting outside. When the family's mother, Oum Yazan (Hiam Abbass), learns that her neighbor Halima's husband has been shot dead in front of the housekeeper, she withholds the truth from Halima, since Halima might otherwise run outside and become the sniper's next target. Director Van Leeuw got the idea from a Syrian friend's account of her own father being trapped in his Aleppo apartment by street fighting; he wrote the script first and deepened the research afterward. The film was actually shot not in Syria but in Beirut over twenty five days, with a cast drawn from France, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. The film swept all six categories it was nominated in at Belgium's Magritte Awards and won the Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Who it's for: anyone curious about a Syrian war drama that never shows the war outside, confined entirely within one apartment's four walls, and swept all six Magritte Award categories it was nominated in. Who it's not for: those wanting a light viewing experience, since the film includes very harsh scenes of rape and execution.