Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

Screening: 7 Days in Syria

Friday, May 5, 2017 - 7:00pm

Location:
Armer Theatre (MZ 100) - Doors open 15 min before showtime
Cost:
Free

An evening with Robert Rippberger,
director, producer, and writer of the documentary

The documentary 7 Days in Syria shines a light on one of the largest humanitarian disasters of the 21st Century – an ongoing, 6-year war that has killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced more than half of Syria’s population. 

When all newspapers rejected her request to cover the Syrian war in 2012 due to the inherent dangers involved, a brave journalist — Janine di Giovanni — decided to report from the war zone regardless. Despite horrifying conditions in which journalists are targeted and killed, di Giovanni meets various war victims who share their stories of hardship and humanity amid the rubble and shrapnel littered around them.

 The documentary ventures inside the everyday lives of various Syrians – a carpenter-turned-baker, a teenager, doctors, a construction worker-turned-gravedigger and a young girl who nearly lost her life when a marketplace was decimated by an explosion – all trying to persevere through a time of death, darkness and despair. 

MEIS colleagues, Professors Melissa Wall and Nayereh Tohidi along with the film’s director Robert Rippberger will join an informal panel discussion following the film screening. CTVA professor Maria de las Carreras will moderate the panel. Please let me know if anyone else among you would like to take part in this informal panel discussion.