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Republic of Silence

Republic of Silence
Diana El Jeiroudi
International Competition 2021
Documentary Film
France,
Germany,
Italy,
Qatar,
Syria
2021
183 minutes
Arabic,
English,
German,
Kurdish
Subtitles: 
English

Silence reigns in the Berlin flat, but the film, whose complex montage encompasses the disintegration of Syria and life in exile, leaves no doubt that things are different in director Diana El Jeiroudi’s mind. Archival footage, loose portraits of confidants and an intimate perspective that explores her own position and her way of coping with trauma add up to a multi-layered document.

“Evil has a very loud and terrifying sound,” El Jeiroudi already noted as a child. Growing up in a country marked by surveillance and military parades has left its mark. In “Republic of Silence”, she looks for a way to come to terms with it, condensing old material, some of which shot in Syria, with a written monologue and stories of persons who also chose exile in the course of the civil war. The result is a complex filmic space that reveals the political and social disintegration of a nation. El Jeiroudi increasingly concentrates on showing a present outside Syria, life in emigration. Passing her husband's  nocturnal teeth grinding, birthday parties and disruptions in the international film festival scene, a life between tension and new beginnings becomes apparent.
Carolin Weidner

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Diana El Jeiroudi
Script
Diana El Jeiroudi
Cinematographer
Sebastian Bäumler, Diana El Jeiroudi, Orwa Nyrabia, Guevara Namer
Editor
Katja Dringenberg, Diana El Jeiroudi
Producer
Orwa Nyrabia, Diana El Jeiroudi
Co-Producer
Camille Laemlé
Sound
Raphaël Girardot, Nathalie Vidal, Pascal Capitolin
Winner of: Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize, Honourable Mendtion (International Competition)