Before Vanishing

Before Vanishing is a Syrian documentary film by director Joude Gorani. The filmmaker travels from the beginning to the end of the Barada river that surrounds the capital city of Damascus. Often deemed iconic of nature's wondrous beauty, the film reveals how the Barada river has suffered from exploitation, neglect, pollution and unplanned urbanization. The film also uncovers the transformation of the river's social life and provides an intelligent measure of the distance between ideology and reality in contemporary Syria.