The War Show & Heartstone Head To Venice Days

The Venice Film Festival’s Venice Days sidebar will be opened by Andreas Dalsgaard and Obaidah Zytoon’s documentary The War Show, and is accompanied by Iceland’s first feature to compete at the festival, Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson’s debut Heartstone.

The War Show (Denmark)
In 2011, Syrian radio DJ Obaidah Zytoon and her friends were caught up in the Syrian uprising. They live in a circle of artists and activists and begin to film their lives as they take to the streets in rallies against President Assad.

But as the country spirals into a bloody civil war, their friendships are tested by imprisonment, death and violence. Zytoon leaves Damascus and travels to her hometown of Zabadani, the centre of rebellion in Homs, and to northern Syria where she witnesses the rise of extremism.

Heartstone (Iceland)
Heartstone is a coming-of-age drama set in a remote fishing village which portrays the journey of friendship and love that two boys, Thor and Christian, go through as one tries to win the heart of a girl while the other discovers new feelings toward his best friend.

The cast of Heartstone includes newcomers Baldur Einarsson and Blær Hinriksson as the two boys, Søren Malling (The Killing, Borgen), Gunnar Jónsson (Virgin Mountain), and Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir (Trapped).