'The Architect of Freedom' film dedicated to late activist Raed al-Fares

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Architect of Freedom, a film by Syrian director Anmar Al-Sayed about the late Syrian activist Raed al-Fares who was killed along with activist Hamoud Junaid by Syria's former al-Qaeda branch in November 2018 in northern Idlib province.

The film is a dramatization of the events that al-Faris faced, from prosecutions, arrest campaigns to assassination.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance led by formerly-known Jabhat al-Nusra which is the dominant force in Idlib, has killed most of its opponents including citizen journalists and human rights advocates.

The Architect of Freedom, a 51-minute long film, took around three and a half months to produce, from writing the script, contacting sources and documenting their testimonies.

Unlike his usual documentaries, Anmar al-Sayed chose a narrative structure to the film, since several documentaries were previously made about Al-Faris and he wanted to present his story in a new light, which was reflected in his artistic and interpretive process, in addition to providing new information and names through the accounts of Raed's friends and his son about who was responsible for his assassination.

Al-Sayed wanted The Architect of Freedom to be a graceful film, with flowing details and action, to present a distinctive dramatic documentary work worthy of such figures of the revolution like Al-Faris and everyone who walked the same path as he did.

The director said that filming in Kafrabel, the hometown of Al-Faris, was not possible because of Al-Nusra’s presence in the area, which would not allow a work that is condemning it to be filmed in its territory. So filming took place in Aleppo’s countryside, with the help of director of photography Ayman Suwaid, who presented a compelling alternative by choosing places that are closest to the environment in which Al-Faris lived and was assassinated.

After the backlash that Talal Derki’s film, Of Fathers and Sons, has faced from the people of Idlib, who thought that it did not do them justice and had put them all into one box for western audiences, Al-Sayyed tried to present the two opposing sides of the conflict, from the point of view of revolution and all its obstacles as well as the tyranny and terrorism surrounding it, making it clear that the civilians of northern Syria are not all members of Al-Al-Qaeda, or the Islamic State (ISIS), but rather that they, too, are suffering from that terror.