- Directed By
- Matthew VanDyke
- Runtime
- Country
- USA
- Language
- English
- Category
- Matter of Fact Shorts
Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution
A short film about the Syrian struggle for freedom as experienced by a 32 year old rebel commander, Mowya, and a 24 year old female journalist, Nour, in Aleppo, Syria. The film clearly and concisely shows why Syrians are fighting for their freedom, told through the emotional words of two powerful characters whose lives have been torn apart by war. Nour is a schoolteacher-turned-journalist who faces death on the front lines to tell the world about the war. The film's title is derived from the opening line of the film, when Nour says, "I used to wear fancy dresses and high heels. Not anymore." Now she wears body armor and a helmet. She is fearless, but lives with the pain of friends who have been tortured, raped, and murdered by the Assad regime. She tells not only her story, but theirs, and in so doing she shows the audience what life is like for a Syrian girl who is spending her 20s in war as everything she loves is destroyed.Mowya is a young rebel commander who bears the scars, physical and psychological, of seven months of torture. But this hasn't broken his spirit. With incredible wit he tells his story. With disbelief and sadness he walks the streets of ancient Aleppo, telling of how life used to be in a thriving, vibrant city whose heart, as Mowya says, has stopped. With a great deal of charisma he clearly articulates why the Syrian people are fighting for their freedom.