0 Shares 0



0

0







The short film “7 Days in Syria” was screened at the House of Lords in the British Parliament, which was arranged by actress Angelina Jolie this week. According to Matthew VanDyke, the producer and cinematographer of the film who thanked Jolie for her initiative, journalist Janine di Giovanni, director Robert Rippberger, and cinematographer Patrick Wells attended the screening.

“The screening with them was a great experience and excellent opportunity to bring attention to the crisis in ‪#‎Syria in the British Parliament,” VanDyke wrote on his Facebook page.

"7 Days in Syria" is a short film which according to Jolie “gives a window into the lives of families struggling to survive on the frontline of the Syria conflict.”

The film, which seems to be a rare glimpse at life during war, was filmed under constant and extreme shelling and bombing, under the threat of snipers and kidnappings.

According to the film’s website, the major effort was made by Newsweek Middle East editor, Janine di Giovanni, who in 2012 had submitted a proposal to cover the war in Syria. According to the source, the newspaper rejected her request, deeming the situation too dangerous but she decided to go anyway.

Over the course of seven days, Janine travels through the Syrian war zone, bringing viewers along to share the experience. On her way, Janine meets a carpenter-turned-baker, a man considered to be a hero of Aleppo. His life is threatened daily by opposition forces, but he still makes bread to keep his neighbors alive.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has reportedly claimed the lives of more than 260,000 people and left over one million injured.

Another personality the film speaks of is Waad, a Syrian teenager who was studying economics until the university was bombed, and who started to shoot videos of the injured and the dead.

“We meet the young doctors who work tirelessly at an understaffed hospital, a construction worker turned gravedigger, and a young girl, the future of Syria, almost killed by a mortar that goes off while she sings at the marketplace,” Janine is quoted as saying.

The United States -- with assistance from its regional allies especially Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- has been arming and training militant units to combat the Syrian government. The terrorist groups including ISIL, al-Nusra front, Ahrar al-Sham and other al-Qaeda affiliated groups have been ripping the country into pieces, with all sorts of violence portrayed in their actions including beheadings and burning people alive.

Syrian army forces have been battling militants, particularly ISIL terrorists, on different fronts throughout. Different actors have become involved in the war.

The US launched airstrikes purportedly against ISIL inside Syria in August 2014, without any authorization from Damascus or the UN. It has also been carrying out airstrikes in Iraq since June 2014 allegedly targeting ISIL terrorists in north and west of the country.