This book tells the history of Syrian documentary cinema and describes how filmmaking and grassroots media activism emerged, developed and documented life and society in Syria, prior to and after the start of the Revolution. It also traces the defining role the Syrian cinema masters of the 1970s and onwards played in avant-garde filmmaking and political dissent against authoritarianism.

Joshka Wessels is a Senior Researcher at Lund University, Sweden and a Senior Fellow with the Centre for Syria Studies (CSS) at Saint Andrews University (UK). She successfully concluded two postdocs, respectively with the University of Copenhagen, Denmark (2014–16) on digital media and video activism during the Syrian uprising and Lund University, Sweden (2011–14) about environmental peacebuilding and hydropolitics in the Jordan River Basin. Next to her academic qualifications, she has a track record as a professional documentary filmmaker having worked with BBC World and AL Jazeera English.

Michael Mason is Director of the Middle East Centre. He is also Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment and Associate of the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. His research interests encompass environmental politics and governance, notably issues of accountability, transparency and security.

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