The Long Season
Most refugees who left Syria during the war ended up in camps like Madjal Anjar in Lebanon. The majority of the camp's inhabitants fled Raqqa, the official capital of the ISIS caliphate. They depend on aid organizations for survival, but some earn money working in the fields of a local farmer who treats them with contempt. The others spend their time waiting for the bus that brings news from Raqqa. Leonard Retel Helmrich spent a year-and-a-half following the lively and resilient characters: a love-sick young man, eager to marry despite his elders’ sharp discouragement; a conflicted teacher, passionate about her work at the camp, but under pressure to return to her husband in Syria; and a family torn apart when a husband marries a second wife. This intimate film captures daily life for those whose futures are postponed by war.