My talk focused on the development of subversive documentary cinema in Syria since the early 1970s which is part of the multidimensional foundations for the popular uprisings and artistic protests that emerged in the streets of Syria in 2011. I read from my book "Documenting Syria", published in 2019. I argue that the subversiveness of Syrian documentary cinema is directly linked to the emergence of critical exchanges between Syrian and Palestinian filmmakers who collaborated artistically and experimentally on cinema and political dialogues in Damascus (Damascus Cinema Club) and Amman (Palestinian Film Unit). This nexus continued to influence a younger generation of Syrian filmmakers throughout the first decade of the rule of Bashar al Assad of whom some became icons and martyrs of the Syrian Revolution. 

I exemplified this cinematic development with several cinematic works by Mohammed Malas, Rami al-Farrah, and Bassel al Shehadeh and the 2021 film by Abdallah al Khatib “Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege” filmed in the biggest Palestinian refugee camp – Yarmouk, in Damascus, Syria.