DAMASCUS — A Syrian film that has scooped a string of prestigious awards in recent months barely made it to screens because of the dangers the crew faced in the war-ravaged country, its director told AFP. Filmmaker Basil al-Khatib’s “Mariam” won prizes at festivals in Cairo on October 13, at Oran in Algeria in September and at the Moroccan city of Dakhla in February. It tells the story of three women, each named Mariam, who lived through three different conflicts in Syria’s recent history, but who overcome the horrors of war through love.



But the Palestinian-Syrian director said the film’s crew had to contend with the risks of Syria’s bloody civil war as they struggled to finish the production. “Some of the scenes were shot in very dangerous sites, with battles raging nearby,” said Khatib.



“We’d go out to shoot and didn’t know whether we’d come back home alive that evening,” he added.



Despite this, he wanted to keep the film focused on how humanity can shine through in conflict. Mariam opens with a line of poetry by Khatib’s father: “We have lost everything, but we still have love.” — AFP