Feature Documentary Film
TOTAL BUDGET
US $1,152,733
CONTACT
alyelarabi@gmail.com
+201008834486
Mahmoud and Fawzi are two friends living in the Za'atari Refugee Camp, Jordan. While facing the difficult reality of their lives, they dream of playing soccer professionally. When a world-renowned sports academy visits the camp, both have a chance to fulfill this dream.
Two friends, Mahmoud and Fawzi, have been living in the Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan for five years. Though neither of them has a sense of what the future holds, they focus their energy together on their first love—soccer. Without a proper soccer field and equipment, they lead a makeshift soccer camp within the camp. Despite the dire circumstances, they remain determined and practice day in and day out, believing firmly that playing professionally is their ticket to freedom.
When Aspire Academy, one of the world’s leading sports academies, arrives at Za’atari to pick players for an international tournament in Doha, they quickly identify Mahmoud as a talent and fly him there, while Fawzi is left behind.
In Doha, Mahmoud and his team are taking in the experience, while Fawzi is facing the difficult reality in the camp. Unexpectedly, the Aspire coaches decide to fly Fawzi in to join the team.
The best friends, along with their tight-knit team, train and compete in the most important soccer matches of their lives, while their families back in Za’atari watch via a weak satellite connection. After the final match, they speak at a press conference. On behalf of the displaced people of Syria, they make it clear that people need an opportunity, not pity.
Three years later, as they grow into young men thinking about getting married and starting families, they remain stuck in Za’atari. While they have both matured in many ways, they are still troubled by fears of an insecure future.
I’m Egyptian, coming from a simple background in a rural area of Egypt. I have always wanted to tell stories, not of the misery of life, but rather of dreams, hopes and dignity. This film’s story merges with my personal life in many ways. Working as a war correspondent in the Middle East, I visited refugee camps around the region and learned that people do not just need food and healthcare, but a chance. They have been denied an opportunity, due to their status as refugees. That’s why I decided to return to Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, to explore how their needs could be given a voice.
We shot this film over five years to show the regular and seemingly mundane dramas that play out in the day-to-day lives of Za’atari residents—a microcosm through which we can explore the questions of where people find their strength, and what they are missing. The story of Captains of Za’atari is centered around the actions, reactions, and emotions of Mahmoud and Fawzi, two friends fighting against the odds to achieve their dreams. Our ambition is to keep their friendship and personal details at the forefront, against a background of the political and social scope in which they are immersed. This way, we hope to create a connection and universality between the viewer and our two main characters; without allowing the layer of politics to place these two friends in a world that is distant to most potential audiences.
While Captains of Za’atari is still in early editing and the story needs to be restructured, I believe it has all of the elements of a powerful, universal film. This film isn’t about Syria, though it is on two Syrian teenagers living in a refugee camp.
Whenever one watches a documentary about the grave situation in Syria or any other war zone, the general response is usually to feel sorry for the people that have to live through these catastrophes. What if though, us feeling sorry for them wasn’t what they wanted? Whether they live in a war zone or on the streets of Manhattan, feeling sorry for those who are less fortunate than us is a disservice more than anything else. I believe in motivating and actively supporting, rather than pitying.
Captains of Za’atari is about two friends with the will and determination to work together towards achieving their dream of playing soccer against all odds. It’s a film that I believe will motivate, inspire and empower anyone who watches it. We are all fighting our own battles and working against odds, whether personally or professionally, but the one thing that unites those who overcome is the will to succeed.
2014: Underaged Marriages, The Great Kurdistan, Refugees in Their Nation
2013: Unsafe Abortions, Refugees in Djibouti
2012: Witness and Martyr, Dreaming of a Constitution
2011: 6th of April Youth Movement, I Was a Child