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Of Fathers and Sons

( 2017 )
Feature Documentary Competition |
 
Germany
,
Syria
,
Lebanon
,
Qatar
 |
 Arabic |
 99 min

About the Film

Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Talal Derki, gains the trust of a radical Islamist family and films their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses mainly on the children, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up with a father whose only dream is to establish an Islamic Caliphate. Osama (13) and his brother Ayman (12) are in the center of the story. They both love and admire their father and obey his words.

Director

Talal Derki

Talal Derki was born in Damascus and is based in Berlin since 2014. He studied film directing in Athens and worked as an assistant director for many feature film productions and was a director for different Arab TV programs between 2009 and 2011. Furthermore, he worked as a freelance cameraman for CNN and Thomson & Reuters. Talal Derkis short films and feature length documentaries received many awards at a varietyof festivals. His feature documentary RETURN TO HOMS has won the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Grand JuryPrize in 2014. The same year, he was al member of the international Jury at IDFA. FILMOGRAPHY : 2017 OF FATHERS AND SONS, feature documentary (98min) 2016 Ode to Lesvos, short documentary (5min) 2013 Return to Homs, feature documentary (90min) 2010 Hero of the Sea, documentary (28min) 2005 A whole line of trees, short film, 35 mm (8min) 2003 Hello Damascus goodbye Damascus, short film, 16mm (12min)

Producer

Tobias N. SIEBERT, Talal Derki, Hans robert EISENHAUER

Production Company

Basis Berlin FilmProduktion ,Ventana Film , Cinema group production

Screenplay

Talal Derki

Cinematography

Kahtan Hassoun

Editing

Ana Fabini

Sound

Sebastian Tesch

Cast

Contacts

Producer

Tobias N. SIEBERT, Talal Derki, Hans robert EISENHAUER

Production Company

Basis Berlin FilmProduktion ,Ventana Film , Cinema group production

Screenplay

Talal Derki

Cinematography

Kahtan Hassoun

Editing

Ana Fabini

Sound

Sebastian Tesch

Cast

Contacts

More About Film

After his Sundance award-winning documentary Return to Homs, Talal Derki returned to his homeland where he gained the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses mainly on the children, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up with a father whose only dream is to establish an Islamic Caliphate. Osama (13) and his brother Ayman (12) are in the center of the story. They both love and admire their father and obey his words, but while Osama seems to follow the path of Jihad, Ayman wants to go back to school. The film captures the moment when the children have to let go of their youth and are finally turned into Jihadi fighters. No matter how close the war comes—one thing they have already learned: they must not cry. \\\\ Of Fathers and Sons / Germany, Syria, Lebanon (Director: Talal Derki, Producers: Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme, Tobias N. Siebert, Hans Robert Eisenhauer) Talal Derki returns to his homeland where he gains the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses on Osama and his younger brother Ayman, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up in an Islamic Caliphate.