Syria returns to the Oscar race after Assad’s fall: the documentary “The Other Side of the Sun” about the notorious Sednaya prison is the country’s submission for 2027

Syria has chosen the documentary “The Other Side of the Sun” by director Tawfik Sabouni as its submission for the Best International Feature Film Oscar at the 99th Academy Awards, to be held on March 14, 2027 — as The Hollywood Reporter announces. It is the country’s first submission since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024 and only the second in Syria’s history, after “Little Gandhi” in 2017.

The documentary follows Sabouni himself, once a prisoner in Sednaya, who returns to Damascus immediately after the collapse of the regime. There he meets four other former prisoners of the notorious prison, known as “the other side of the sun.” Together, they go back inside the walls of the liberated prison and, through careful re-enactments of routines and moments of survival, turn memory into testimony — revealing, as the film’s promotional materials put it, resilience and an unbreakable will to survive.

The film had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the 2026 Berlinale, where it won the second audience award, and later received awards at the Amman International Film Festival, including the FIPRESCI prize. The selection was announced by the General Organisation for Cinema of Syria and is the first decision of the country’s new committee, accredited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — underlining, according to a statement by Andana Films, a new chapter in the country’s participation in the international awards scene.

Meanwhile, Andana Films — which handles the film’s international sales — announced that the New York-based company Icarus Films has bought the U.S. distribution rights. The shortlist of nominations for the international Oscar will be announced on December 15, while the final nominations will be revealed on January 21, 2027.