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 Humam Husari's self-financed short film explores the chemical
attack near Damascus through the eyes of a rebel fighter who
lost his wife and child but was denied time to bury them.
Instead, he is called to defend his town from a government
offensive. The story is based on real-life events, he said.
"We need to understand how people were pushed into this war and
to be part of it," said Husari, 30. "I am talking about a story
that I lived with. They are real characters."
U.N. investigators established that sarin gas was used in parts
of the rebel-held Ghouta suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus
in 2013. The United States accused Syria's government of
conducting the attack, which it estimated killed around 1,400
people, but Damascus denied responsibility and blamed rebels.
Making the film was an emotional but necessary experience for
Husari and his performers, who were witnesses to and victims of
the attack, and not trained actors.
"The most difficult thing was the casting and auditions," said
Husari, who took about two months to write, produce and direct
the 15-minute film and is currently editing it.
"A 70-year-old man said to me: I want to be part of this movie
because I lost 13 of my family ... I want the world to know what
we've been through. And all I wanted from him is just to be a
dead body," he said.
"I was amazed with how much those people were able to express
their tragedy and to cooperate with me on this movie."
Syria's civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and
displaced 11 million -- about half of Syria's pre-conflict
population. It has caused a refugee crisis in the Middle East
and Europe and drawn in regional and global powers.
Mohamed Demashki, a business student and professional
bodybuilder before the war who plays the main character, said he
took part in the film because of its message.
"It tries to convey to the world that the people who live here
are not just fighters, they are not terrorists. They are people
with a life. The war conditions them to become fighters," he
said.
When the sarin attack happened, Husari took his camera to the
makeshift hospitals that sprang up to cope with thousands of
victims and sent the footage to international media.
"I wasn't filming because I am a cameraman, I was filming
because this is the only thing I could do for the victims," he
said.
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"During it, you can't feel anything, you just feel shock ... After,
when you just think about what you have witnessed, you rethink how
big and real and really tragic this was. It is not easy for me to
watch my footage."
U.S. President Barack Obama had said use of chemical weapons would
be a red line, but after the 2013 attack, it became clear Washington
would not back up his words with military action.
While Syria destroyed its declared stockpile of chemical weapons
under international supervision, warring parties continue to accuse
each other of attacks involving mustard gas, chlorine and other
chemicals.
Husari, who studied film at the Brighton Film School in Britain, now
makes a living covering the Syrian conflict for international news
organizations, but still hopes to make filmmaking his career.
Speaking to Reuters by phone over a background wail of air raid
sirens and the roar of warplanes, Husari said that living the daily
reality of war will equip him to tell the story of the conflict when
the war ends and films can start to be made.
"Let's just think about how I reacted to those war jets in the sky.
It has become something very normal to me, and this is something it
is really hard to understand from the outside," he said.
He has acquired the tools to direct actors to accurately respond to
events in a conflict setting, he said.
"I feel I have a responsibility in the future to tell this story,
these stories, through cinema and drama. That's usually what happens
after every war," he said.
With parts of Damascus's Ghouta under opposition control from the
beginning of the conflict, a number of areas have come under siege
by Syrian government and allied forces.
Making cinema in a place where there is no free passage of food,
people and other supplies is tough. Husari made his lighting
equipment and camera track himself, but had the good fortune to have
access to a good quality camera.
"It is an irony that in a besieged area you can find the best
cameras you need," he said.
(Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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