Berlinale Spotlight – Panorama Dokumente: The Other Side of the Sun

Shortly after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, he returns to the place of his imprisonment. His aim is not to reopen old wounds, but to restore what systematic violence has sought to eradicate: voices, stories and humanity. Sabouni invites four other Saidnaya survivors to accompany him on his journey.

Together, they return to the places where they were tortured and dehumanised for years, and re-enact their captivity in carefully constructed re-enactments – daily rituals, gestures, moments of survival. Filmed within the former prison, the re-enactments become a means of expressing something that cannot be put into words. In a restrained manner, the film confronts the audience with the lasting scars of imprisonment and gives a voice not only to the five men featured, but also to the thousands who did not survive the Assad regime and whose families are still searching for answers.

PROGRAMME

Welcome

TBC

Film screening

The Other Side of the Sun

• By: Tawfik Sabouni (director, screenplay), Laurine Estrade (screenplay)
• Country: Belgium / France / Saudi Arabia 2026
• Language: Arabic (with English subtitles)
• Running time: 92 minutes

Film discussion

• Tawfik Sabouni, director, screenplay
• Moderator: TBC

FURTHER INFORMATION

Doors open: 6.00 pm

Language: German

FREE ADMISSION

REGISTRATION REQUIRED

The Berlinale Spotlight: Panorama Documents, Forum & Generation is a collaboration between the Documentation Centre for Flight, Expulsion and Reconciliation and the European Film Market (EFM) of the Berlin International Film Festival.