Inspired by the mythology of the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War, over 300 foreign volunteers chose to give up their comfortable lives and go fight ISIS in Raqqa. We filmed them there, fly-on-the-wall style, fighting, talking, laughing, being attacked by suicide bombs and sniper fire. We were with them until Raqqa was freed. And then we followed them back home – changed forever.
Every night, between July and October 2017, young men with no previous military experience pushed through the most dangerous streets of the world. They conquered Raqqa, block after block. They met death and violence. And eventually, along with the Kurdish and Arab forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces, they liberated Raqqa and ended the reign of the most murderous cult of the XXI century. Some of them went back home. We were there when they told their story to their families.
“I gave my life to help the people of Northern Syria, to stop the terrorists, but my government is more interested in trying to charge me with terrorism instead”, complains former British Army soldier, Kevin. Josh, 22 from California, also finds the homecoming hard. “I miss Syria badly. War begot meaning to my life.” Made by acclaimed journalists Paul Moreira and Pedro Da Fonseca, this is the untold story of the young Westerners who left everything behind to fight ISIS.
For a year, despite the concerns of the international community and the threat of ISIS’ return, we followed the efforts to rebuild Mosul.
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’82 Names’ traces the journey of Mansour Omari, a survivor of torture and imprisonment in Syria. As Omari seeks to rebuild his life in exile and visits sites in Germany that memorialize the victims of the Holocaust, he reflects on how to bring attention to the brutal regime he escaped—and counter extremist ideology in the future.
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Tens of thousands of men, women and children have disappeared into secret detention centres in Syria since the protests began in 2011. Survivors allege crimes against humanity. They’re fighting to free those still detained and to prosecute the perpetuators at the very top of the regime.
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