‘5 Seasons of Revolution’ Director on Documenting Syrian Civil War, How It Changed Her Perspective on Journalism
Tara Karajica In her debut film, exec produced by Oscar winner Laura Poitras (“Citizenfour”), Syrian activist-journalist Lina chronicles the real-time transition from peaceful revolution, ushered in by the Arab Spring more than a decade ago, to civil war in Syria. The film plays in the Newcomers Competition at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival. At first, Lina thought she would document the women’s involvement in the Syrian uprising. “I was thinking that despite how much women are involved in every aspect of what is happening, once everything is over, somehow, we’re going to slip through the cracks and disappear from the story. So, I decided it was best to start documenting what we do as we do it, to make sure that memories were not erased. But as things progressed, and took unexpected turns, I had more and more reasons to keep making the film. And, some of the reasons changed because, as I was making it, I felt that documenting the role of women isn’t exactly an objective for the film. It’s just part of the texture of the film. I don’t need to aim for it anymore. It’s there.”