Return to Homs

Synopsis

Homs, Syria, is a city under siege. On the frontline of the Syrian Civil War, it is at the epicenter of the defensive insurgency led by the charismatic Abdul Basset, goalkeeper of the national soccer team. Only nineteen years old, he is the voice and spirit of the revolution. Accompanied by friend, journalist, and cameraman Ossama Al Homsi, as well as a wide-eyed and admirable squad of fearless young pacifists-turned-protestors, Basset energizes and epitomizes the movement with astonishing bravery and statesmanship. Shot in an arresting battlefield vérité, the film is similarly astounding, as the madness of modern urban warfare evokes a Shakespearean Agincourt with cell phones as the dauntless Basset leads his band of brothers again and again into the harrowing breach.

Director Biography

Talal Derki, born in Damascus 1977, is a Syrian filmmaker who studied film directing in Athens, graduated in 2003. He made two short fiction films, and five documentaries. His films were previously screened in various festivals (Thessaloniki, Rotterdam Arab Film Festival…), awards included the Silver Hawk at the Rotterdam Arab Film Festival 2011 for Azadi, and a jury special mention from Arab Camera Film Festival 2012, for “Lajat”, both films made during the Syrian revolution and screened with alias names, before Talal decided to leave Syria with his family.