24 OCT, 16:00 · Cinema City 5
The screening is followed by a 15-minute Q&A with the filmmakers or special guests. It is a chance to discover the story behind the film and discuss its themes directly.
Guests:
Janay Boulos
Abd Alkader Habak
BIRDS OF WAR
Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak / United Kingdom, Syria, Lebanon / 2026 / 85 min
Reconstructing its protagonists’ lives through personal archives and weaving their digital correspondence into its narrative form, “Birds of War” spans thirteen years of war, revolution and exile to trace how a London-based Lebanese journalist and a Syrian cameraman meet through an exchange of footage and eventually fall in love.
Screenings
About the film
In 2016, during the final months of the battle for Aleppo, BBC reporter Janay Boulos contacts Syrian cameraman and activist Abd Alkader Habak for footage from the ground. What begins as a professional exchange gradually develops into an intimate relationship, sustained across the distance between London and Syria through digital messages. Drawing on thirteen years of personal archives, “Birds of War” follows their lives as war, revolution and exile leave their mark on their love. The film incorporates the visual language of messaging into its storytelling, turning their correspondence into a cinematic space where private emotion and the ethics of documenting war continually intersect.
ProducerSonja Henrici
