The War Show

In the beginning the goal was clear. Get rid of Assad’s regime and all of its ugliness, to achieve freedom to be whoever you want to be. In March 2011, Syrian radio host Obaidah Zytoon (Oby) and friends join the street protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Knowing the Arab Spring will forever change their country, the 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. Oby leaves Damascus and journeys around the country, from her hometown of Zabadani, to the center of the rebellion in Homs, to northern Syria where she witnesses the rise of extremism. A deeply personal road movie, The War Show captures the fate of Syria through the intimate lens of a small circle of friends. As the story unfolds, we follow in the footsteps of the Syrian revolution. Oby is fighting for honesty and justice, but in the face of war everything gets corrupted. Close friends of Oby disappear and are found tortured to death. Others just vanish. Slowly her memories are disconnected. She seeks to reassemble the pieces between ugliness and beauty. This is Oby’s internal struggle, as she fights to remain human in the face of conflict.