THE WAR SHOW

Synopsis

In March 2011, radio host Obaidah Zytoon and friends join the street protests against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Knowing the Arab Spring will forever change their country, this group of artists and activists begin filming their lives and the events around them. But as the regime’s violent response spirals the country into a bloody civil war, their hopes for a better future are tested by violence, imprisonment and death. Obaidah journeys around the country, where she witnesses the rise of extremism. The War Show captures the fate of Syria through the lens of a small circle of friends.

Director Biography

Andreas Dalsgaard is a director born in 1980 in Denmark, graduated from the National Film School of Denmark as a fiction film director in 2009. He made his directorial debut with the documentary Afghan Muscles (2007), winner of the Best Director prize at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles. Working in documentary since, his films include Bogota Change (2009), The Human Scale (2012), the doc-fiction Travelling with Mr. T (2012), Life is Sacred (2015) and The War Show (2016).

Obaidah Zytoon is a radio host and director born in 1976 in Syria. She studied English Literature at the University of Damascus before becoming a radio host and producer, working both in Syria and internationally. In 2008, Zytoon produced her first documentary film, Through Women’s Eyes. She co-founded the Syrian artist-activist collective Waw Al-Wasel, producing multi-media art and short films related to the Syrian conflict. The War Show (2016) is her directorial debut.