Exiled Syrian director, Ossama Mohammed, is perhaps Syria’s greatest living filmmaker. His latest film, Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait (2014), is a documentary that depicts the brutal reality of the Syrian Civil War as captured firsthand by both its victims and its perpetrators. An astonishing collaboration between Mohammed, forced into exile after speaking out against the Assad regime, and Wiam Simav Bedirxan, a Kurdish filmmaker who captured footage of war-torn Homs, the film offers raw and visceral insights into life and death during the civil war that has left nearly 500,000 dead and 11 million homeless. Gradually shifting from its shocking and disturbing undertone to form a highly reflective and uniquely cinematic elegy, Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait is at once a landmark document of the Syrian Civil War and an unforgettable testament to human courage and dignity.

Ossama Mohammedis an award-winning filmmaker whose work blurs boundaries between fiction and documentary. His films have screened at festivals around the world including the London Film Festival, the Torino Film Festival, and the Cannes Film Festival, where his 2002 film Sunduq al-dunyâ (Sacrifices) was screened in the Un Certain Regard section. He has lived in exile in France since speaking out against the Assad regime in 2011.