Through his quest to better understand the shredded state of his family, Wael questions the long-lasting socio-political crisis in Syria. In 1980, I was born in Syria coinciding with the launch of a project aiming to build an international highway only a few meters away from my house – a bridge that would separate the city from its poor suburb. In 1985, I met my father for the first time and realised that the woman I always called “mother” was in fact my grandmother. A conflict had arisen between her and my biological mother over my custody. A few years later my journey fighting cancer started with several false diagnoses and delayed treatment at governmental hospitals. In 2000, I asked about and searched for my biological mother and our family history. But my attempts to confront and understand my past shook the stability that each member of the family had created. In 2013 I fled to Lebanon and continued my family research with the conviction that cancer, family dismantlement, and urban transformations are a mere metaphor of our present general social and political crisis.

An autobiographical film by Wael Kadlo
Production: Wael Kadlo and Nadim Deabies
Image: Ayman Nahle, Wael Kadlo,
Rami Nihawi and Juma Hamdo
Assistant Director: Samer Mostafa
Editing: Orwa AL-Mokdad
Sound: Mazen Al-Sayed
Color: Blal Hibri