Talal Derki returns to his homeland where he gains the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses on Osama and his younger brother Ayman, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up in an Islamic Caliphate.

Talal Derki

Born in Damascus, Talal Derki has been based in Berlin since 2014. He studied film directing in Athens and worked as an assistant director for many feature film productions and was a director for different Arab TV programs between 2009 and 2011. Furthermore, he worked as a freelance cameraman for CNN and Thomson & Reuters. Talal Derkis short films and feature length documentaries received many awards at a variety of festivals.

2018 Sundance FF; Grand Jury Prize - World Cinema - Documentary 2018 Documentary Edge Festival; DocEdge Award - Best International Feature

2018 Full Frame Documentary FF; Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award, Special Jury Mention - Reva and David Logan Grand Jury Award

2018 Munich FF; Fritz-Gerlich-Preis

2018 Krakow FF; The Golden Horn - Best Director, FIPRESCI Award

2018 Valletta FF; Special Jury Mention

2018 Thessaloniki Documentary FF; The Peter Wintonick Audience Award

2018 One World Prague; Best Director

2018 Ljubljana Doc FF; Main Prize

2018 ZagrebDox; Best International Film, Movies That Matter Award