The war on my phone – Lifeline to Syria (1/2) | DW Documentary

Refugees Amjad, Omar, Zena and Shahinaz are living in Münster, Saarbrücken, Ahrweiler and Lausanne. However, they are not entirely present in their new homes. Every day they receive messages and videos from relatives and friends in Syria.

Part 2: https://youtu.be/3-u31NgfDbQ

The two-part documentary follows four people who are torn between the security of their places of refuge in Europe and the news and videos from friends and relatives back in Syria that reach them daily on their smartphones. Through these messages and images, the film offers an intimate insight into life in war-torn Syria beyond the news broadcasts.

“I’m in Europe and safe, but I cannot escape the war. Every day it is here on my mobile phone.” Every day, Amjad, Omar, Zena and Shahinaz receive messages and videos of shelling in Idlib, scenes from inside a Syrian jail and everyday life in an area controlled by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). These are not the anonymous images we see on news broadcasts, but very personal accounts from people who have names and faces, with their own stories and destinies. The videos sent by phone are not professional productions; they are blurred, shaky and noisy, but they are authentic and they confront us with the daily experience of war – unofficial, personal war. The images intrude on the secure world of Europe, leaving the protagonists torn between their often idyllic new surroundings and the home and people they have left behind. Videos of bombardments or prisons burst into the picture-postcard backdrops of Lake Geneva or the Münsterland. ISIS propaganda films pop up in a café. The war is suddenly close – with a face and a voice. These images and the stories are all the more moving because they reach us directly, without any professional remove. They are images of war in the digital age, and this is a film about a time in which distant realities are brought close every minute of the day – in this case painfully close.

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