# Orwa Nyrabia

Orwa Nyrabia (Arabic: عروة النيربية; born 16 December 1977) is an independent documentary film festival artistic director, producer, filmmaker, trainer, human rights defender and co-founder of DOX BOX International Documentary Film Festival in Syria. Nyrabia is a resident of Berlin, Germany, since the end of 2013 In 2018-24, Nyrabia was the artistic director of International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).

## Early life and education

Nyrabia grew up in the city of Homs, Syria, in a family of political dissidents. His father, Mouaffaq Nyrabia, is a prominent leftist opposition figure, and a political prisoner in the 1980, and his mother, Amal Mohammad, a political activist and the sister of renowned Syrian filmmaker Ossama Mohammad. In 1999 Nyrabia graduated with a degree in acting from the Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts in Damascus, Syria. From 1997 to 2002, Nyrabia wrote regularly for Lebanese daily As-Safir.

## Film Career

While still a student, Nyrabia worked as assistant director with Ossama Mohammad on his film Sacrifices, which was premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. In 2004, he starred in Yousry Nasrallah's "The Gate of Sun". The film, an adaptation of Elias Khoury's novel with the same name, was screened at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Nyrabia also worked on several feature films as a first assistant director. In 2002, Nyrabia and his partner, filmmaker and producer Diana El Jeiroudi, launched their first independent film production company, Proaction Films, in Damascus, to be the first independent company dedicated to documentary films production in the country.
In 2008, Nyrabia and El Jeiroudi launched DOX BOX (Arabic: أيام سينما الواقع) to be the country's first independent film festival, attracting a large audience and hosting prominent international filmmakers. The festival started with screenings in Damascus cinemas but from 2009 on screenings were expanded to other Syrian cities including Homs and Tartus. Along with the annual festival, many workshops and activities were offered to young Syrian filmmakers. His work with DOX BOX earned him and his partner, Diana El Jeiroudi, several awards, including the Katrin Cartlidge Award and the European Documentary Award in 2012.
The most significant of the films Nyrabia produced was the 2008 documentary Dolls, A Woman from Damascus, by Diana El Jeiroudi, the film was screened in over 40 countries around the world, on Television, in festivals and Art exhibitions.
In 2013, while residing in Egypt, Nyrabia produced the documentary film Return to Homs, by Syrian filmmaker Talal Derki, and the film became the very first film from the Arab World to open the prestigious IDFA, in November 2013. Return To Homs won many awards, including the Grand Jury Prize of 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
In 2014, he was one of the producers of the highly acclaimed film Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait, directed by seasoned Syrian filmmaker Ossama Mohammed in collaboration with Wiam Simav Bedirxan, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Official Selection, and received highest critical claim by major outlets such as Le Monde and Variety. Nyrabia's success in 2014 was highlighted by CBS's show 60 Minutes on December 15, 2014.
Nyrabia served on the juries of many international film festivals and funds, including IDFA, Prince Claus Fund and Dok Leipzig, among others. He also worked as a documentary film tutor at various prestigious workshops, such as the IDFA Academy and the Encounters documentary workshop in Cape Town, South Africa. In June 2017, Nyrabia, together with his partner Diana El Jeiroudi, were the very first Syrians to be invited as members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In 2018, Nyrabia became the Artistic Director of the prominent IDFA, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. During his tenure, the organization navigated the pandemic, committed to, and delivered on a gender parity pledge, and went through an overhaul of its programs, incorporating a wider global representation, and at the same time becoming a key address for US-based studios's promotion calendar. He resigned in 2024 in the aftermath of the scandal with the pro-Palestinian protests at the opening ceremony of the 36th edition.

## Activism

Nyrabia's role in the drafting of the Syrian filmmakers' international Call in late April 2011, which is the Syrian uprising's first public statement by a professional group, is known to be central. The call was signed by over 70 Syrian filmmakers, inviting filmmakers around the world to join in demanding democracy for Syria. Stars like Juliette Binoche, Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Mike Leigh were among more than one thousand international film professionals who joined the call.
Nyrabia has been one of the unnamed people behind Syria's most famous grassroots revolutionary organization, Local Coordination Committees in Syria, working on activists’ support and humanitarian aid to displaced citizens. Arabic media praised Nyrabia for his role in humanitarian work, mainly to displaced civilians from Homs. It is known that Nyrabia worked closely with renowned Syrian opposition figures and activists, such as Riad Seif and Razan Zaitouneh. Nyrabia's father, Mouaffaq Nyrabia, is also a known Leftist political dissident, previously detained by the Syrian authorities, and has been the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces's representative to the EU in the years 2013-2015 and then the coalition's vice president in 2016.
Since Razan Zaitouneh was abducted late 2013 in Douma, near Damascus, by an unknown group of extremists, Nyrabia became the temporary acting director of the organization she founded and directed, Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria (VDC).

### Detention

Nyrabia was reportedly arrested at Damascus International Airport by Syrian authorities on 23 August 2012. His family lost contact with him shortly before he was supposed to board an EgyptAir flight to Cairo. The airline company confirmed that Nyrabia did not board their flight. He was reportedly released on 12 September. Later on, Nyrabia announced on his personal Facebook page that the Syrian Military Intelligence was responsible for his detention. Nyrabia was released following an international filmmakers' campaign for his freedom, in which thousands of film professionals from around the world demanded his freedom in the media. These included Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Charlotte Rampling, Kevin Spacey, Juliette Binoche and many others. The campaign was a rare example of successful pressure on the Syrian government, as it was the reason why he was released without charges. Following his release, Nyrabia published a letter of thanks to everybody who participated in the campaign

### IDFA 2023 Disruption

At the opening ceremony of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in 2023 held on November 8 in the shadow of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, three activists burst onto the stage and waved a sign bearing the inscription "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", a slogan used by Palestinian activists that is seen by some as a call for the extinction of the state of Israel. The activists received applause, also from Nyrabia himself. On November 10, the members of Israel’s film community issued a statement: "...we are reaching out to express our uttermost dismay, disappointment and concern by the event that occurred during the opening ceremony of IDFA on November 8th. Allowing and applauding a sign which states that “From River to the Sea Palestine will be Free” is a call for the eradication of Israel, the Jewish homeland and of Jews in general. Applauding and cheering the protesters on, was the festival’s director, Mr. Orwa Nyrabia, which allows us to believe that this is IDFA‘s official and reprehensible stance towards Israel and towards Jews..." The following day, The festival made a statement distancing itself from the slogan, in which Nyrabia stated that he did not read the banner during the event, and rather applauded freedom of expression, in addition to second statement demanding a ceasfire and the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The position against the statement, which has been deemed to be "protected speech" by the Dutch supreme court earlier in the year, was understood by a number of artists as an act of silencing Palestinian voices and those in solidarity with them. More than 20 participating filmmakers and artists published, and read during the festival, statements defending the use of "From the River to the Sea" as their support for freedom and democracy for all the land's inhabitants, referring to a one state solution for the historical conflict, and accusing IDFA of censorship. Two days after the aforementioned statements, the festival issued a third, where it recognized that it had no right to suggest that the slogan should not be used, and acknowledged that Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is the "core of the problem". In 2024, Nyrabia said that "the festival was “very narrow-minded” in the way it initially responded to the slogan", and "“We can only claim that we are an open platform when we do not censor voices,” he said. “When they think we are censoring voices, that is on us. This endangers the core of who we are. We are an open platform for free speech. We cannot at the same time be censoring voices, especially at times of massive pain such as the ongoing mass slaughter in Gaza.”, and later the same year, he hosted an international symposium to debate the responsibilities of art organisations during such tremulous times.