Five awards were granted in Venice International Critics’ Week to congratulate three years of hard and amazing work of two directors, Saeed Al Batal and Ghiath Ayoub, and the whole team of “Still Recording”.

We are proud and extremely happy to announce that the festival’s audience appreciated the work, first, by their standing ovation following the screening, and then in getting the “Audience Award”, the main prize of the Venice International Film Critics’ Week.

“Still Recording” got another official award, “Mario Serandrei - Hotel Saturnia & International Award for Best Technical Achievement”, which is assigned by a jury composed of members of the Union of Italian Film Critics.

Al Batal and Ayoub’s first feature documentary film got three collateral prizes: "Edipo Re Award", the "Vivere da sportivo il fair-play al cinema Award" and - most importantly - the prestigious FIPRESCI Award (Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics).

From 500 hours of footage in besieged Ghouta, Douma and in Damascus, “Still Recording” made this huge success in its first step in festivals.

                 “Saeed is a young cinema passionate trying to teach the youth in Eastern Ghouta in Syria the rules of filming, but the reality they face is much harsher to respect any rule.

His friend Milad is on the other side of the fence, in Damascus, under the control of the regime finishing his studies in Fine Arts.

At one point, Milad decides to leave the capital and joins Saeed in under sieged Douma where they set up a local radio station and a recording studio. They hold the camera to film everything until one day the camera films them…”

Congratulations to the directors and a special thanks to all the co-producers, supporters and the whole team

Produced by Bidayyat for Audiovisual Arts & Rousl Group in co-production with Films de Force Majeure, Blinker Filmproduktion supported by L’Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée, Institut Français, World Cinema Fund, Doha Film Institute produced by Mohammad Ali Atassi co-produced by Jean-Laurent Csinidis, Meike Martens camera Abed Al-Rahman Al Najar, Saeed Al Batal, Rafat Bearam, Ghith Beram, Milad Amin, Ghiath Ayoub, Tim Siofi editor Raya Yamisha, Qutaiba Barhamji sound editing & mixing studio Studio Lemon sound editing, sound mixing & design Pierre Armand artistic advisor Rania Stefan colorist Shirine Sinno post-production The postoffice, Beirut.