Philippe Van Leeuw – Insyriated #Berlinale

February 20, 2017

Philippe Van Leeuw - Insyriated #Berlinale fredfilmradio

Podcast | Download

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Philippe Van Leeuw, director of the film Insyriated.

Philippe Van Leeuw’s new film has just shaken the Panorama’ section of the 67th Berlinale as it represents the horror of Syria’s word by following a family trapped in their own apartment. Its title is Insyriated and its main actress is Hiam Abbass. The idea of the film came to Van Leuw in 2013 and from that time, the war hasn’t stopped and it’s still on so the film keeps being actual. Besides Hiam Abbass, Diamand Abou Abboud and Juliette Navis, all the other actors in the film are from Syria and on their experience Van Leeuw based some of the happenings in the film. The kitchen is the place where they try to hide, we don’t see or can’t see what happens outside but the uncertainty of what future will bring them is written on their faces, their panting, their trying to have a normal life despite the cruelty and killings outside.

Insyriated: trapped inside her house in a city under siege, Oum Yazan, mother of three, turned her flat into a safe harbor for her family and neighbors, trying to protect them from the war outside. When bombs threaten to destroy the building, when snipers turn the courtyards into deadly zones, and burglars break in to claim their dreadful bounties, maintaining the thin balance of routine inside the walls becomes a matter of life and death.

For the film page on the festival website click here.

Written by: fredfilmradio

Berlinale Insyriated Panorama Section Philippe Van Leeuw

Guest

Philippe Van Leeuw

Film

Insyriated

Festival

Berlinale

Rate it

Channel posts

Interview

BFI Flare Festival

Interview with the writer and researcher Joss Morfitt at the London BFI Flare LGBTQIA+ Festival

March 26, 2026

Discover the story of BFI Flare’s history through the eyes of Joss Morfitt, researcher and writer, revealing how queer cinema and London's LGBTQ+ culture have evolved over 40 years.

Interview

Bari International Film Festival

“A War on Women”, interview with director Raha Shirazi

March 24, 2026

At the Bari International Film & TV Festival, director Raha Shirazi reflects on memory, resistance and the power of Iranian women’s voices in her documentary "A War on Women".