- An aspiring video journalist in her 20s finds herself already facing self-reckoning. Born in Damascus, Syria, Lina starts to report on the events around her until she is compelled to become a war reporter.
- When the promise of an Arab Spring swept the region and word of protests calling for the Syrian regime to be overthrown reached Damascus, young, independent video reporter Lina and her group of hopeful, cosmopolitan compatriots celebrated the arrival of revolution. In order to avoid detection from the state and its directed and implied violence, Lina learned to embrace multiple identities to survive and continue reporting. As the months turned to years, the heady early days slowly became an ever-present brutal grind, chewing up relationships, futures, and lives.—Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival
- At the start of the Syrian revolution, a young female reporter goes undercover to capture the truth on the ground. Calling herself "Lina" in Damascus, "Maya" in Homs, and "Lama" in Aleppo, she keeps the voice of the people heard by hiding her cameras and smuggling out secret footage. "Lina" and her close circle of women journalists are especially vulnerable at checkpoints and front lines, and a progressively violent state begins to erode the Arab Spring's promise of equality and freedom. Over years of protracted armed conflict, detainments and mass casualties, the country's rebels fracture politically, as does this group of activist friends. Beaten for being a woman, then pardoned for the same reason, "Lina" is increasingly isolated amid the chaos. She narrowly escapes her most recent brush with arrest and torture-but at what cost? Told over a decade of war, this intimate testimony of one woman holds the space of what was her dream, and that of her country.—Myrocia Watamaniuk, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
- Young independent filmmaker and reporter Lina goes underground to document the Syrian revolution, adopting a series of aliases to avoid detection from the violent state. In Damascus, she is Lina, one of the many of the silent passerbys, but in Homs, she is Maya the war reporter and in Aleppo, she is Lama. In her debut, 5 SEASONS OF REVOLUTION, Lina uses video diaries of smuggled footage and memoir to share this personal story of her close group of friends - Susu, Rima, Malaz, and Bassel - as they are slowly pulled deeper into the struggle for freedom and autonomy against enemies known and unknown. One by one, they are detained and targeted by the regime and Lina ends up alone and isolated amidst the violence and chaos. She continues filming to find clarity. Months transform into years, and Lina - aka Maya aka Layla aka Lama - returns over and over again to the frontlines to witness the regime's brutal crackdown and see her country morph into a staging ground of global proxy wars. When Lina is detained and held captive in Aleppo, she witnesses unspeakable suffering and torture, and barely escapes. Told over the course of a decade and against the backdrop of shifting historical forces, 5 SEASONS OF REVOLUTION is Lina's story; the tale of becoming brave.—Deckert Distribution
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Top Gap
By what name was 5 Seasons of Revolution (2023) officially released in Canada in English?
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