A Self Portrait of Olive Trees

After the February 2023 earthquake, AlBaraa returns to besieged Idlib to meet Marouna’s daughters, where the narrative opens up about birth, love, despair and hope. The Assad regime falls, and the long-awaited freedom is born.
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In the aftermath of the February 6, 2023 earthquake, AlBaraa returns from exile to besieged Idlib to film a documentary about the “Marona” girls’ work providing emergency psychological support after the disaster. There, he discovers a treasure trove of old and common stories. The narrative unfolds, giving birth to many tales through the voices of Nadia, Fatima, and then Marwa. The stories transcend boundaries, opening up to talk of birth, love, despair, hope, and the anticipated freedom, before the regime falls without warning at the end of 2024. Faces and eyes change, but the stories remain.

A film by AlBaraa Haddad
With Fatima Shibib, Marwa Alsaloum & Nadia Alsaloum
Editing Ali Kazwini
Color Grading Serene Issa
Audio Post-Production & Music Burhan Khatib
Production Manager Hamza Ateka
Creative consultant Anas Zwahri
Translation Lara Malakeh
Subtitling Karma Swearky
Exports & studio Aref Abualkher
Wind Cinéma Studio Karma Swearky, Reine-Marie Touma & Hanin Mlhem
Special Thanks Elaf Alshousha, Alaa Alshousha, Linda Bilal, Hamza Aljouja, Yousef Aljoumaa, Salah Jaar, Ali Haj Sulaiman, Musab Haddad & Marouna Library
Post-production Co-Producer Wind Cinéma – Ahmad Alhaj
Post-production Co-Producer MA3MAL 612 – THINK FACTORY ـ Sawsan Darwaza & Ehab Al Khatib
In collaboration with Heinrich Böll Stiftung
Co-producer AlBaraa Haddad – Popless Studio
Producers Jaber Baker & Louai Haffar

Minutes

2026

Release

Production

Syria
Turkey
Germany
France
Jordan

Self Portrait Olive Tree with English SUB – frame at 1m24s

Self Portrait Olive Tree with English SUB – frame at 3m20s

Self Portrait Olive Tree with English SUB – frame at 10m4s

Self Portrait Olive Tree with English SUB – frame at 12m20s

Self Portrait Olive Tree with English SUB – frame at 23m27s

Self Portrait Olive Tree with English SUB – frame at 27m10s

Self Portrait Olive Tree with English SUB – frame at 28m53s

Self Portrait Olive Tree with English SUB – frame at 45m35s

Bio – Filmography

AlBaraa Haddad
Syrian filmmaker, photographer, and visual anthropologist. born in Latakia 1995, Self-taught, co-founder of Dar Ebla of Art and Culture, Syria. His journey began by documenting the Syrian uprising and the war that followed; bearing witness to displacement and destruction from within his own homeland. That experience formed the foundation of a practice built on anthropological observation, classical film language, and a sustained attention to the struggle of memory and displacement.
He has worked as a documentary producer and filmmaker with TRT World, Al Jazeera, and several international documentary platforms. He has collaborated with the UN and GOAL Global, GIZ, working directly with survivors of war and displacement on their testimonies and witnesses. and teaching Photography as a form of expression and preserving individual Memory.
His work has been exhibited in France, Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, Turkey, and the United States, and he held an art residency at Fiminco, Paris. during 2024.
After a decade of exile in Turkey, AlBaraa returned to Syria following the fall of the Assad regime
https://albaraahaddad.com
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Producer/Writer: Jaber Baker
Jaber Baker is a script writer, producer, novelist and co-founder of Dar Ebla of Art and culture. He developed and wrote several documentaries, including Pasha Khan and A Visa to Northern Exile. He has authored 601 The Divine Trials, Bab al-Faradis, and contributed to the novel Three Generations Under the President’s Bridge. He also created and produced several audio series.

Producer: Louai Haffar
Louai is a documentary film producer based in Damascus, Syria. He has previously worked as a commissioning editor and creative consultant for various media outlets. Louai holds a Master’s degree in sociology from George Mason University. He produced Memory in Khaki (2017) and The Fifth Story which won the IDFA 2020 FIPRESCI Award for First Appearance.