''The Return to Homs'' is a 2013 Syrian-German

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

written and directed by

Talal Derki Talal Derki (Arabic language, Arabic: طلال ديركي ''Ṭālāl Dīrkī'') is a Syrian Kurdish director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Damascus and of Kurdish descent, Derki studied film directing in Athens at , graduation in 2003. He wo ...

. It is produced by

Orwa Nyrabia Orwa Nyrabia ( ar, عروة النيربية; born 16 December 1977) is an independent documentary film festival artistic director, producer, filmmaker, trainer, human rights defender and co-founder of DOX BOX International Documentary Film Festiv ...

and Hans Robert Eisenhauer while

Diana El Jeiroudi Diana El Jeiroudi (a.k.a. Diana Aljeiroudi), ( ar, ديانا الجيرودي; born 1977) is a Berlin-based, Syrian independent film director and producer. El Jeiroudi’s films as director were celebrated at many festivals, including the Venice ...

served as the associate producer. The film premiered in-competition at the 2013

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...

on November 20, 2013, as the opening film of the festival. The film also premiered in-competition in the ''World Cinema Documentary Competition'' at

2014 Sundance Film Festival The 2014 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 16, 2014 until January 26, 2014 in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance Resort in Utah. The festival opened with ''Whiplash'' directed by Da ...

on January 20, 2014. It won the ''Grand Jury Prize'' award at the festival. After its premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Journeyman Pictures Journeyman Pictures Ltd is a film distribution company based in England. The company works as an independent sales agent for producers of short current affairs, broadcast and feature-length films, both non-fiction and fiction. History Journey ...

acquired the worldwide distribution rights of the film. The film's TV rights has been previously sold to ARTE for France and Germany,

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

for Japan,

RTS RTS may refer to: Medicine * Rape trauma syndrome, the psychological trauma experienced by a rape victim * Revised Trauma Score, a system to evaluate injuries secondary to violent trauma * Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a condition characterized by ...

for Switzerland, SVT for Sweden, and

Radio Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

. It also served as the closing film at 2014 ''Human Rights Film Festival'' on March 28, 2014.

Synopsis

In the middle of Syrian Civil War, the film follows, 19-year-old national football team goalkeeper, Abdul Baset Al-Sarout and 24-year-old Ossama, his media activist and journalist friend, their daily life in the city of

Homs Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...

which has become a bombed-out ghost town by government forces. Their homes, lives and dreams destroyed and in order to gain freedom, they are forced to change course Baset and Ossama turned from peaceful protesters into rebel insurgents.

Reception

''The Return to Homs'' received mostly positive reviews upon its premiere at the

. Peter Debruge of

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, said in his review that "Talal Derki’s “Return to Homs” represents a remarkable achievement in immersive conflict-zone filmmaking, fearlessly taking auds to the front lines of the Syrian civil war and embedding them alongside soccer star turned resistance leader Abdul Baset Al-Sarout, a charismatic nonviolent protester pushed into taking up arms against the oppressive regime." Neil Young in his review for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' called the film "An unflinching, rousing piece of civil-war reportage, literally dispatched from the conflict's front lines." Eric Kohn from

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

praised the film by saying that ""Return to Homs" reveals a far more frenzied, visceral struggle that a handful of driven warriors continue to endure at all costs. With its climactic freeze frame, Derki captures the men's uneasy combination of desperation and triumph in a single image: With nowhere left to go, they still push ahead." While, Dan Fienberg of ''

HitFix HitFix, or HitFix.com, was an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information, and reviews and critiques of film, music, and television. In mid-2010 HitFix crossed the 1,00 ...

'' grade the film B+ and said that "There are shades of Kubrick to the long, uninterrupted shots that take us through bombed out buildings, a labyrinth of ruins that still have poignant ties to our heroes."

Accolades

References

External links

Official Site
* *
Return to Homs
on Journeyman Pictures {{DEFAULTSORT:Return To Homs, The 2013 films Sundance Film Festival award winners 2013 documentary films German documentary films Syrian documentary films Documentary films about human rights Documentary films about the Syrian civil war Homs 2010s German films