OF FATHERS AND SONS
Synopsis
After his Sundance award-winning documentary RETURN TO HOMS, Talal Derki returned to his homeland where he gained the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses primarily on the children, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up with a father whose only dream is to establish an Islamic caliphate. Osama (13) and his brother Ayman (12) both love and admire their father and obey his words, but while Osama seems content to follow the path of Jihad, Ayman wants to go back to school. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for World Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, OF FATHERS AND SONS is a work of unparalleled intimacy that captures the chilling moment when childhood dies and jihadism is born.
Connect
Learn more about OF FATHERS AND SONS and connect on social media:
See the Film
The Filmmakers
Talal Derki Director
Talal Derki was born in Damascus and is based in Berlin since 2014. He studied film directing in Athens and worked as an assistant director for many feature film productions and was a director for different Arab TV programs between 2009 and 2011. Furthermore, he worked as a freelance cameraman for CNN and Thomson & Reuters. Talal Derkis short films and feature length documentaries received many awards at a variety of festivals. His feature documentary RETURN TO HOMS has won the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize in 2014. The same year, he was also a member of the international Jury at IDFA.
Festivals & Awards
Sundance Film Festival
2018
Winner - Grand Jury Prize: World Cinema - Documentary
IDFA
2018
IDFA Competition For Feature Length Documentary
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
2018
Official Selection
Cinema Eye Honors
2018
Nominee – Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
Nominee – Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Nominee – Outstanding Achievement in Production
Honoree – “Unforgettables” Nonfiction Subjects of 2018
Academy Awards
2019
Nominee: Best Documentary Feature
European Film Award
2018
Nominee - European Documentary
IDA Documentary Awards
2018
Nominee - Best Documentary Feature
Nominee- Best Writing
Independent Spirit Awards
2018
Nominee - Best Documentary
Visions Du Reel
2018
Sélection Officielle
Sheffield Doc/Fest
2018
Nomninee - Grand Jury Award
Reviews
“An audacious feat of documentarian access.”
“Clear, vivid, unshakable. The sheer level of personal danger-zone access secured by Derki is something to marvel and puzzle over. Sincerely eye-popping in its portrayal of inherited Islamist fervor.”
“A chilling look at extremism on its home front.”