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<\/a><\/p>\nInternational film stars and the Directors Guild of America have voiced concern and are demanding the release of Syria filmmaker Orwa Nyrabia who has been missing since August 23.<\/p>\n
Robert de Niro, Jeremy Irons, Kevin Spacey, Charlotte Rampling and Danny Boyle, among others, are urging the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad to release Nyrabia. But apart from Lebanese documentary filmmaker Mahmoud Kaabour, Arab figures in the industry are keeping mum. But please correct me if I am wrong.<\/p>\n
Kaabour, the documentary filmmaker behind Grandma, a Thousand Times<\/em> and Being Osama,<\/em> issued a video and has been active on social media platforms raising awareness and calling for Nyrabia\u2019s release.<\/p>\n Taylor Hackford, president of the Los Angeles-based Directors Guild of America, made the following statement Thursday, September 6:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Directors Guild of America joins together with the international film community in expressing our serious concern over the disappearance of filmmaker Orwa Nyrabia two weeks ago.<\/p>\n \u201cA society or government that fails to protect an artist\u2019s freedom to express his or her creative vision without fear of censorship, retribution or government reprisal is surely one in which respect for liberty, civil and human rights is similarly tenuous. We call for Nyrabia\u2019s immediate and safe release along with any other filmmakers and other artists who have been detained and prohibited from full freedom of expression.\u201d<\/p>\n Some 51 directors, producers, writers and actors from other parts of the world have also signed a letter demanding Nyrabia\u2019s release. It says:<\/p>\n “We, the undersigned members of the UK film community and international friends, implore the Syrian authorities to release Orwa Nyrabia immediately.<\/p>\n “Orwa is a highly respected producer and festival promoter in Damascus who has been pivotal in starting a documentary renaissance in the Arab world.\u201d<\/p>\n Among signatories to the letter are David Puttnam, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach and Colin Firth. Copies of the letter were forwarded to UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and distributed in France and the U.S.<\/p>\n Nyrabia\u2019s last known movements are going to Damascus International Airport to fly to Cairo. He did not board the plane and has been missing since.<\/p>\n His father, Mouwaffaq Nyrabia, is a former political prisoner.<\/p>\n Nyrabiya is a graduate of the prestigious High Institute for Dramatic Arts in Damascus, where he studied acting and starred in several films before moving to film production.<\/p>\n In 2002, along with a Syrian fellow filmmaker and his wife, Diana el-Jeiroudi, he established Proaction Films<\/a>, a Damascus-based production and distribution company that focuses on human rights, gender and social justice topics.<\/p>\n Recent credits include\u00a0Diana el-Jeiroudi\u2019s Dolls<\/em>\u00a0—\u00a0A Woman from<\/em> Damascus<\/em>, 2008 (IDFA, Nyon, Montpellier). Upcoming ones include Omar Amiralay\u2019s theatrical documentary,\u00a0Seduction<\/em>.<\/p>\n He is also the co-founder, with Diana el-Jeiroudi, and program director of Dox Box International Documentary Film Festival<\/a> and editor\u2013in-chief of Tafaseel<\/a>, the newly launched documentary film quarterly in Arabic and English.<\/p>\n Founded in 2007, Dox Box has hosted documentary filmmakers such as Kim Longinotto, D. A. Pennebaker and Marc Issacs in Damascus. In March of 2012, Dox Box Global Day\u00a0saw screenings of Syrian documentaries in Edinburgh and London in partnership with Reel Festivals and internationally in solidarity with the Syrian uprising.<\/p>\n In July, the Sarajevo Film Festival honored Nyrabia and Jeiroudi with the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation scholarship for “independence, singularity and integrity of spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n