SONGS FROM EXILE

Songs from Exile is a short film that traces the digital reunion of Hossam and Kholoud, two former lovers from Syria separated for 25 years by war, exile, and family pressure. Reconnecting by chance on a karaoke app during the COVID-19 lockdown, they begin exchanging self-filmed video messages and voice recordings, documenting their attempt to rebuild a bond across borders and decades of absence.

Told entirely through their own recordings—songs, audio logs, and social media fragments—the film captures both the intimacy and the fragility of connection under conditions of displacement, censorship, and surveillance. What begins as a personal story of longing unfolds into a meditation on the political and social forces that shape lives in exile, and the resilience required to carve out spaces of connection despite them.

Collaborators:
Hossam Aldeen Yousef, Kholoud Hajoun