World Cinema Documentary Competition

5 Seasons of Revolution

When the promise of an Arab Spring swept the region and word of protests calling for the Syrian regime to be overthrown reached Damascus, young, independent video reporter Lina and her group of hopeful, cosmopolitan compatriots celebrated the arrival of revolution. In order to avoid detection from the state and its directed and implied violence, Lina learned to embrace multiple identities to survive and continue reporting. As the months turned to years, the heady early days slowly became an ever-present brutal grind, chewing up relationships, futures, and lives.

In her debut feature, filmmaker Lina uses a haunting, impressionistic style that mixes diaries, memories, and reflections to share a personal story of living inside a revolution, and the struggle for freedom and autonomy against enemies known and unknown. 5 Seasons of Revolution is a rare chronicle that not only takes you inside the conflicts that exist among a group of comrades whose solidarity is tested, but also the conflicts within, as a storyteller tries to understand what they experienced while negotiating their always-shifting perspective as a witness, participant, and narrator.