Birds of War, the award-winning documentary that took the Sundance Film Festival's World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Journalistic Impact, will have its UK premiere on June 11th at Sheffield DocFest. The film is directed and produced by Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak, who are also its central subjects. The film also won the Grand Jury Prize at Seattle International Film Festival, the Wide Angle Audience Award at Visions du Réel in Switzerland, and four prizes at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in Greece.
Birds of War follows London-based Lebanese journalist Janay, and Syrian activist Habak over 13 years as they share their love story amid the Syrian Civil War. What starts as a work relationship transitions into a beautiful romance against the backdrop of a bloody war that they have to document. The film is made entirely of real-time, on-the-ground archival footage of the Syrian and Lebanese revolutions.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the film is represented by London-based documentary sales, production and distribution company Dogwoof.
Birds of War was financed with support from Screen Scotland, Connected Foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, International Documentary Association, Inmaat Foundation, International Media Support, Docs Up Fund, Cat Flap Media, and Women Make Movies.
I can’t wait to share this film with audiences when the film’s central question is ever more prominent in our minds: How can we be together despite our differences?