Birds of War
Janay Boulos, Abd Al Kader Habak / GB, SY, LB, 2026 / 85 min.
Amid the chaos of the civil war in Syria, a Syrian activist-cameraman provides footage to a Lebanese journalist living in London. A story about love in times of war, revolution, and exile, and an award-winner at festivals including Sundance.
After foreign journalists are barred from entering Aleppo, Lebanese BBC journalist Janay Boulos depends on the footage sent to her by Syrian activist-cameraman Abd Alkader Habak. At first, they exchange brief, practical text messages, but gradually their communication becomes increasingly intimate: they send each other voice messages and personal videos and give each other pet names.
Meanwhile, the horrors of the bombings continue, and Habak sends terrifying footage from the front line—at one point, he is in a hospital when it is bombed. When revolution breaks out in Lebanon, Boulos travels back to her home country. Drawing on their personal archives, they worked together to make this chronological film about the tension between documenting reality and becoming part of it themselves.
A story about their love, the impact of war and revolution on their lives and their families, and the pain and inner conflict that come from choosing to live in exile.
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Details
Director
Janay Boulos, Abd Al Kader Habak
Production year
2026
Country
GB, SY, LB
Length
85 min.
Language
Arabic, English
Subtitles
NONE
Format
DCP
Part of
IDFA 2026
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is once again bringing an exciting selection of the world’s best documentaries to Eye this year, from 12 through 22 November.
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