Before Vanishing is a Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

n documentary film by director Joude Gorani

Joude Gorani

Joude Gorani is a Syrian Cinematographer. She graduated from La Femis in 2005. She has since worked in documentaries such as Dolls - A Woman from Damascus directed by Diana El Jeiroudi, premiered at IDFA and Visions du réel documentary film festival in Nyon, Switzerland, Black Stone directed by...

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The filmmaker travels from the beginning to the end of the Barada

Barada

The Barada is the main river of Damascus, the capital city of Syria. It flows through the spring of `Ayn Fijah , about 27 km north west of Damascus in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, but its source is Lake Barada, located at about 8 km from Zabadani...

 river that surrounds the capital city of Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

. Often deemed iconic of nature's wondrous beauty, the filsm reveals how the Barada river has suffered from exploitation, neglect, pollution and unplanned urbanization. The film also uncovers the transformation of the river's social life and provides an intelligent measure of the distance between ideology and reality in contemporary Syria.