Jwan Abdo
Directing
Biography
Jwan Abdo was born in 1996 in Aleppo. After the war in Syria, Jwan moved to Istanbul, where he began his filmmaking career. He participated in several short films, including the documentary "The Boy with the Camera," which chronicled his life. The film was screened at numerous festivals, and Jwan received several awards. In 2017, he was granted asylum in Germany, where he continued his filmmaking career. He directed the film "Parallel" at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2020. He then directed "Mirrors of Memory" in 2021 after receiving support from a German foundation. In 2024, he began directing his third short film, "DUR" which was filmed between Iraqi Kurdistan and Germany and is about mothers.
Known For
Memory Mirrors is a short film about Hatim, a middle eastern refugee, trying to build himself a future in Germany. Tormented by his past, through flashbacks seen at each look in the mirror, he tries to confide in his flatmate, an old Germany lady.
Memory Mirrors
An elderly care agency in Germany assigns Khalil, a Kurdish Syrian immigrant, to care for a lonely German woman in her home in Essen; he finds himself submerged in his mother’s voice recordings coming via WhatsApp from the mountains of Afrin, as she describes the details of making 'Makdous' and her insistence on finding a way to send it to him despite the wartime siege.
DÛR
Jwan has escaped from the war in Syria and come to Turkey. In the daytime he works at a clothing store and during rest of his daily life he writes scripts. He wants to be a film-director. With an old camera in his hand, he makes conversations with them who come from Syria and trains his camera on them. People share their own dramas, disappointments, hopes and hopelessness with Jwan.
The boy with camera
When two people from two different cultures meet face to face in Berlin.