The Suffering Grasses: When Elephants Fight, It Is The Grass That Suffers

Over a year later, with thousands dead and counting, the ongoing conflict in Syria has become a microcosm for the complicated politics of the region. Against the backdrop of the Arab Spring and NATO’s toppling of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, this documentary film seeks to explore the Syrian conflict through the humanity of the civilians - women and children, families and whole communities – who have been killed, abused, and displaced to the squalor of refugee camps. While focusing on the plight of those caught in the crossfire of the hegemons, the film seeks to unravel the conflict by exploring the motivations of its actors: the Ba’athist regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Free Syrian Army and other geopolitical players like the United States, Israel, Russia, China, Iran, Lebanon, Turkey and the Gulf countries.

A Brazilian of Korean descent, she is an activist and filmmaker. She worked as a producer of Mostra from 1984 to 1989, when she moved to New York City. She has directed short and feature-length documentaries including Synthetic Pleasures (1995, 19th Mostra), Modulations (1998, 22nd Mostra), Beneath the Borqa in Afghanistan (2002), Battle for the Xingu (2009, 33rd Mostra), Cultures of Resistance (2010, 34th Mostra), The Suffering Grasses: When Elephants Fight, It Is the Grass That Suffers (2012, 36th Mostra), K2 and the Invisible Footman (2015, 39th Mostra) and Life Is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara (2015, 39th Mostra). She participates in the project Cultures of Resistance, an activist network that brings together artists and change makers from around the world.

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA