On the morning of August 19 2012, Syrian photographer Issa Touma noticed young men from the Free Syrian Army lugging sandbags into his street and building a barricade under the window of his apartment. The civil war had reached the streets of Aleppo. The following nine days, Touma stayed inside with his camera, filming the situation down the street from his apartment window.
9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo captures the changing nature and dynamic of the situation outside, as T-shirt-wearing partisans gave way to the heavily armed militants of the al-Tahwid Brigade. Touma recorded the start of the uprising in Aleppo and gives an unprecedented glimpse into the conflict. The film was directed by Dutch filmmakers Floor van der Meulen and Thomas Vroege.
Now in its fifth year, the Syrian conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and left half of the population displaced. Aleppo, the largest metropolis in the country and one of the oldest human settlements in the world, is at risk of disappearing. Ongoing battles between government forces, opposition rebels and radical Islamist militants have severely damaged the city’s architectural fabric and will soon destroy what remains of tis essence as a centre of intellectual activity and cross-cultural dialogue. The original number of inhabitants has shrunk from 2.7 million to an estimated 1.2 million in the Assad-controlled western zone and 200.000 in the east, as stated by UN officials.
© Issa Touma
© Issa Touma
© Issa Touma
© Issa Touma
© Issa Touma
© Issa Touma
© Issa Touma
Screenings
9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo can be included in the exhibition Women We Have Not Lost Yet, And Other Stories of Aleppo by Issa Touma. Contact through Paradox.
The short documentary continues its international film festival tour. With the recent seizings of parts of Aleppo and the ongoing war, this film remains an urgent and unprecedented report about the start of the Syrian conflict.
For information about festival distribution of 9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo contact Some Shorts.
Film
On 19 August 2012 Issa Touma grabbed his camera when he noticed young men from the Free Syrian Army building a sandbag barricade under the window of his apartment. The civil war reached Aleppo. Over the first nine days of the conflict, Touma captured its changing nature and dynamic, as T-shirt-wearing partisans gave way to the heavily armed militants of the al-Tawhid Brigade. The film was directed and edited by Dutch filmmakers Floor van der Meulen and Thomas Vroege and co-produced by DeepFocus WebDocs and Paradox.
From 2015 until 2017, 9 Days was shown at more than 70 film festivals worldwide and awarded with international prizes.
Award
European Film Award 'Best Short Film' (2016)
British Film Institute 'Short Film Award' (2016)
Huesca Film Festival 'Best Short Documentary' (2016)
Kinodot 'Audience Prize' (2016)
Tampere Film Festival 'Special Merit for Documentary' (2016)
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9 Days in August and September
From Argentina to Finland, from Brazil to Holland
28 July 20169 Days - From My Window In Aleppo continues its international tour! The next two months, the short documentary by Issa Touma, Floor van der Meulen and Thomas Vroege will be shown at film festivals all around the globe.
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9 Days selected for European Short Film Award 2016
4 October 2016Congratulations to Issa Touma, Thomas Vroege and Floor van der Meulen! 9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo is among the 15 nominees for the European Short Film Award 2016! At each of the 15 participating film festivals, an independent jury presented one European short film in competition with a nomination in the short film category of the...
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9 Days wins international awards in London and New York
17 October 2016Great news: the short documentary 9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo won two international awards in one weekend! On Saturday 15 October, Issa Touma, Thomas Vroege and Floor van der Meulen had the honour to receive the Best Short Film Award at the British Film Institute Festival in London. On Sunday 16 October,...
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Installing WWHNLY in snowy Gävle
Exhibition by Issa Touma travels to Sweden
5 December 2016From 7 December until 5 March 2017, Women We Have Not Lost Yet is on show at Konstcentrum Gävle! It’s the first time the project is being exhibited in Scandinavia. The Swedish city of Gävle decided in 2015 to become a member in the International Cities of Refugee Network (ICORN). Participating towns are linked by this independent organization...
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9 Days best European Short Film 2016
Film wins Short Movie Award at the European Film Awards
11 December 2016Incredible news! 9 Days – From My Window In Aleppo wins the Short Movie Award at the European Film Awards 2016! The cherry on the cake after an amazing year. Issa Touma, Floor van der Meulen and Thomas Vroege: congratulations! The European Film Awards, presented jointly by the European Film Academy and EFA Productions, honour...
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Greetings from Aleppo wins DIRECTORSNL AWARD
29 March 2018On Monday 26 March, the Dutch Directors Guild awarded Greetings from Aleppo the DIRECTORSNL AWARD for best short movie.
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Read more »An unprecedented glimpse into a war that has been raging for three years now.
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Read more »Issa Touma is living in a war zone
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Read more »Prizes in London and New York for our short documentary 9 Days
