Watani: My Homeland
Film poster
Directed byMarcel Mettelsiefen
Written byMarcel Mettelsiefen
Produced byMarcel Mettelsiefen
Stephen Ellis
Edited byStephen Ellis
Production
company
Release date
28 October 2016
Running time
40 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
Syria
Germany
LanguagesEnglish
Arabic

Watani: My Homeland is a 2016 documentary short film directed, produced and written by Marcel Mettelsiefen. The film follows the story of a family's escape from Syrian Civil War, and their attempt to start a new life in Germany.[1]

It was shortlisted with ten other short-film from 61 entries submitted to the 89th Academy Awards in Best Documentary Short Subject category.[2][3] It eventually received a nomination.[4]

The same family is profiled in two Frontline documentaries, "Children of Aleppo" from 2014 that covers their time in Aleppo prior to Watani, and "Children of Syria" from 2015 that covers much of the same time period as Watani covers.

Plot

It depicts the lives of Hammoudi, Helen, Farah and Sara, the young children of Free Syrian Army Commander Abu Ali. They live on the frontline of the civil war in Aleppo, the only family living in a derelict war zone that was once a busy residential neighborhood. After Abu Ali is captured by ISIS, the family is forced to flee their homeland and to start a new life in a small, medieval town in Germany.

Accolades

References

  1. ^ "'We cannot and will not leave anyone behind,' says UN chief on World Humanitarian Day". UN News. October 26, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  2. ^ "10 DOC Shorts on Oscars's 2016 Short list". Oscars.org. October 26, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  3. ^ Gilani, Sana (October 27, 2016). "Documentary about war on Aleppo makes it to the Oscars". Daily Pakistan. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Oscar Nominations 2017: See the Full List". Vanity Fair. January 24, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.

External links


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