His first Academy Award nomination
Talal Derki made history, as his film Of Fathers and Sons, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards. It is the second film by an Arab director to get nominated at this year’s Oscar’s.
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Back in 2013, the Syrian director released Return to Homs, a gut-wrenching documentary that followed 19-year-old Abdul Baset Al-Sarout. the national teams goal-keeper and 24-year-old Ossama, his journalist friend in their daily life at Homs, which has become a ghost town during the Syrian War. The film received critical acclaim, and even won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival among other international awards.
Following this success, Talal decided to return to his homeland, where Of Fathers and Sons came to life. He managed to gain the trust of a radical Muslim family, and documented their day-to-day life for over two years. His main focus was on the children, giving viewers an inside look into what living with a father who’s only dream is to establish an Islamic caliphate, is like. Osama, 13-year-old and his 12-year-old brother Ayman, both look up to their father and highly respect him, but while Osama seems content to follow the path of Jihad, Ayman wants to go back to school. We watch both boys, as they are raised in the shadow of the war, where children are deprived of their childhood.
The film also gained critical acclaim, and won the 41-year-old director his second Grand Jury Prize at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. But unlike its predecessor, Of Fathers and Sons nabbed the coveted Oscar nomination – a new milestone for Talal. He took to Instagram, to share his excitement in a post, which he captioned, “And here we are finally, an Oscar nominated 💪🏼”
We wish Talal and Nadine the best of luck!
Images: Instagram, Getty
