A film by Syrian-Armenian filmmaker Avo Kaprealian, “Houses Without Doors” was among the two movies to win the Best International Documentary award at the 34th Torino Film Festival in Italy, the fest’s official website said.

“Out of an impossible situation, he shows what is impossible to show – from the balcony of his family’s home he looks at the whole world. He makes us feel that Syrian and Armenian people are all humanity and makes us trust in the tools of cinema to help humanity to exist and resist in all times,” the jury said

The film portrays the changes in the life of an Armenian family on Aleppo’s frontline in Al Midan, an area that brought shelter to the persecuted Armenians 100 years ago and today to many displaced Syrians. From the balcony of his home, the director films with a small camera the changes in his neighborhood and his own family, interweaving his images with extracts from classical films to illustrate the parallels between the Armenian genocide and Syrians’ reality today.

Kaprealian was born in 1986 in Aleppo, who left his hometown to study theater at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus where he graduated in 2011. He took part in several film workshops organized by DocMed, Bidayyat for Audiovisual Arts and Screen Beirut. After returning to Aleppo, he began teaching at the Akkad Institute of Theatre and Arts.