New on VOD this week: RED LINES
Andrea Kalin and Oliver Lukacs’ experiential look at the conflict in Syria had its world premiere at Hot Docs this Spring. Additional screenings followed in Oslo and Washington DC. FilmBuff now releases the doc across VOD platforms, including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Vimeo, Vudu, Google Play, Blinkbox, XBOX Video, and Sony PlayStation, with an Arabic version also forthcoming on Vimeo On Demand.
Kalin and Lukacs ground the complexity of the current crisis in Syria through their subjects, two inspiring young activists who marshall modern technology and savvy dealmaking to bring what aid they can to their nation while the international community waits for the titular last straw to be broken before intervention is inevitable. Initially working independently, Razan, the university-educated socialite daughter of a wealthy family, and Mouaz, Syrian-born but raised in America and based in Washington DC, partner together to implement a daring plan that they hope will lay the groundwork for a free Syria. Identifying a potential leader, they work to create a democratically-run village free from Bashar al-Assad’s control, with a civilian police force keeping things in check, to provide an example that can be replicated village by village before the brutal regime is able to extinguish all hope. The filmmakers follow these efforts, as well as their other actions to smuggle in supplies and to lobby for international assistance, providing a visceral sense of the life-threatening risks these individuals are willing to take, even as the world stands by.
what (not) to doc 