Berlin: ‘Under The Sky Of Damascus’ Explores Sexual Politics In Syria, Where Women Face Constant Threat Of Violence From Men

deadline.com:

Millions of women in the Muslim world live under the dominion of men, subject to their rules, confined by their power. The documentary Under the Sky of Damascus, making its world premiere tonight at the Berlin Film Festival, examines the alarming gender politics in one ancient locality — the capital of Syria. “Women are more enslaved than ever in these times,” actress Sabah Al Salem declares in the film directed by Heba Khaled, Oscar nominee Talal Derki and Ali Wajeeh. “The biggest exploitations we face are of a sexual nature.” The film documents an attempt by a female-led theater company to create a bold play about the power imbalance in Syrian society, based on interviews conducted with women from a variety of backgrounds.

Many of those testimonies are seen in the documentary, offering stark insight into the reality faced by Syrian women. “When my dad gets mad, he tends to be aggressive,” states a young woman who works in a cloth factory. “He breaks things, beats us, and wreaks havoc… He sometimes beats us so we’re hospitalized.” Another woman in the factory recounts that her husband married an additional two women. “He told me that my daughters and I were no more than servants to them… He sometimes steps on the girls’ heads with his army boots.” At a center for deaf and mute women, an administrator discusses the cases of women there who have been sexually assaulted or abused. “A young woman was once raped by three men,” she says. “The three men knew that she was deaf.

They lured and kidnapped her… The men were prosecuted, and they admitted that they had sexually assaulted her. The court ordered the first rapist to marry her to restore her family’s honor.” Khaled, who grew up in a conservative milieu in Syria but