SaturDox 2025
March 22 @ 08:00 - May 31 @ 17:00
Stories of Struggle from the Global South
SaturDox 13th Documentary Screenings
March 22 – May 31, 2025
The region we live in is experiencing perhaps one of the most complex periods in its history. Sometimes it seems impossible to even imagine a peaceful future in the midst of genocides, armies turned into war machines, toppled regimes, civil wars, leaders who do not recognise international law and who are determined to further obscure our fates. However, history also teaches us that these catastrophes are unsustainable and that the peoples of the region, who continually pay a heavy price, will never yield in their demands for peace and justice.
Organised by Depo and Documentarist, this year’s SaturDox Documentary Screenings will focus on stories of resistance, struggles for liberation and survival amidst the chaos and violence in our region. From Palestine to Lebanon, Sudan, Egypt, Syria and the Congo, six important documentaries from these countries of the Global South will be screened, with the films from Palestine, Lebanon and Syria followed by in-depth conversations with speakers from each on what’s currently unfolding in their contexts.
All films will be screened with Turkish and English subtitles. All screenings are free of charge and registration is not required to participate. The screenings on March 22, April 19 and May 31 will be followed by a talk.
PROGRAM ↓
Saturday, March 22, 17:00
From Ground Zero: Untold Stories from Gaza
Short films by various directors
Palestine, 2024, 112’
Talk: Mahmoud Asaad Issa, one of the leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and a prisoner who was released after 27 years of captivity as part of the recent agreement and exiled from Palestine
Moderator: Harun Turgan
In November 2023, Gaza-born Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi founded a fund to support filmmakers in Gaza. Their first project, Ground Zero, is a collection featuring 22 three- to six-minute short films. While their genre and narrative approaches vary widely, ranging from narrative drama to documentary and animation, the films reveal the daily experience of tragedy, struggle and resistance in Gaza. Despite the harsh filming conditions, Gaza’s vibrant artistic scene shines through this collection, offering an intimate and powerful portrait of daily life and the enduring spirit of its people.
Saturday, April 5, 19:00
Waves
Director: Ahmed Nour
Egypt, 2013, 75’
Using an artistic combination of documentary footage, archive images, animation scenes, animated characters representing the family members of the filmmaker, and his own voiceover, the director tells the story of himself and of his generation, born with the birth of Mubarak’s rule in the early 80s, and of his forgotten home city, Suez, the famous city of the Suez canal that triggered the revolution to the extent of becoming known as “The flame of the Egyptian revolution.”
Saturday, April 19, 19:00
The Lost Souls of Syria
Directors: Stéphane Malterre, Garance Le Caisne
France, Germany, 2022, 92’
Talk: Ouaees Hommous, Syrian architect and urbanist
27,000 photos of civilian detainees tortured to death were stolen from the Syrian regime’s secret archives by a military defector codenamed Caesar and made public in 2014. Director Stéphane Malterre and his co-author and historical advisor, Garance Le Caisne, investigated to what extent international justice proves impotent in prosecuting the criminal Syrian state. More than five years of investigation and struggles will lead to the first trial against the high officials of the Syrian death machine.
Saturday, May 3, 19:00
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Director: Johan Grimonprez
Belgium, France, Netherlands, 2024, 150’
From the Congo to Harlem and back again, Johan Grimonprez’s kinetic, urgent documentary delivers the politics of decolonization in jazz form, replete with virtuosic archival riffs, historical text in the form of Blue Note album covers, and musical performances by jazz legends (Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone) who in the ‘60s doubled as cultural ambassadors to Africa. Their roles as unknowing decoys in the CIA’s plot to assassinate Congo’s prime minister Patrice Lumumba threads through this deeply researched, densely textured tapestry.
Saturday, May 17, 19:00
Madaniya
Yönetmen: Muhamed Subahi
Sudan, 2024, 75’
The ousting of president Al-Bashir and the end to his 30-year rule marked the turning point for Sudanese society. This journey was abruptly interrupted by the military coup in 2021 and has come to a complete and brutal stop by the fierce violence that has been unfolding since the war in Sudan broke out in 2023. The film witnesses events as they unfold, driven by scenes following the main characters before the coup, where whatever the characters are confronted with, they continue to fiercely demand the main slogan of the revolution, the call for MADANIYA – a civilian governance of Sudan.
Saturday, May 31, 19:00
Beirut: Eye of the Storm
Director: Mai Masri
Lebanon, 2021, 75’
Talk: Lea Khalil
Four young women in Beirut document a turbulent period in recent Lebanese history, from the uprising against the ruling regime to the subsequent lockdown and then, just months later, the gigantic explosion at the port.