In war-torn Damascus, housewife Oum Yazan (Hiam Abbass, BLADE RUNNER 2049) has barricaded herself, father-in-law Moustapha (Mohsen Abbas), daughters Yara (Alissar Kaghadou) and Aliya (Ninar Halabi), son Yazan (Jihad Sleik), nephew Karim (Elias Khatter), along with neighbors Halima (Diamand Bou Abboud, THE INSULT), husband Samir (Moustapha Al Kar), and newborn baby in her apartment while her husband Monzer and his brothers are fighting with rebels and in hiding. Their only contact with the outside world is through the internet, mobile phones, and television. Samir has planned to escape with his wife and child to Beirut and then to France. When he is shot outside the apartment building, Oum Yazan swears housekeeper Delhani (THE TUNNEL's Juliette Navis) to secrecy so as not to scare the others. As tensions build within the apartment from petty annoyances involving food and time in the bathroom, and threats from the outside in the form of increasingly nearer bombings and men who attempt to enter the apartment under the guise of checking on their well-being, Oum Yazan's determination not to be driven out of her own home alienates and even endangers her friends and family. IN SYRIA is a chamber piece of a film but feels very real thanks to a detached approach to filming that allows the performances themselves to allow characters to dominate the scene or recede into the background. Although ultimately not a sympathetic character, Abbass' middle class housewife is relatable through her attempt to cope by attempting to control whatever she can to the point of alienating others and seeming callous about the feelings of individuals. Cinematographer-turned-director Philippe Van Leeuw (Bruno Dumont's THE LIFE OF JESUS) shows incredible visual restraint, and the film won the Audience Award at the Berlinale.