December… End of the Impossible

December… The End of the Impossible is a feature-length documentary that follows the stories of five people from Daraa Governorate in southern Syria.

The film opens with an introduction to the beginning of the Syrian revolution before moving into the lives of each protagonist—where they were when the uprising began and how their journeys unfolded throughout the years of the revolution, culminating in the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024.

Official poster of the documentary December… The End of the Impossible.

Despite spending those years in different places and under very different circumstances, the five protagonists ultimately find themselves connected by one place: Saydnaya Prison. Although scattered across Syria and beyond, this prison became a common point of convergence for countless Syrians, as tens of thousands of detainees disappeared behind its walls.

Before the fall of the Assad regime, entering Saydnaya Prison was considered impossible. After more than fifty years of Assad family rule in Syria, that day marked the end of the impossible—the moment when one of the darkest symbols of oppression finally became accessible, revealing the suffering that Syrians had endured for decades.

The documentary was screened at the Daraa Cultural Centre on Thursday, 7 May 2026.

The screening had a profound emotional impact on the audience. Many were unable to hold back their tears as they listened to the stories of a displaced Syrian, a wounded survivor, a former political prisoner, and a mother who lost her three sons. Each story represents not only an individual experience but also the suffering of an entire segment of Syrian society, reflecting the hardships endured by the people of Daraa and Syria throughout the years of conflict.

One of the stories featured in the documentary is that of former detainee Mohammed Al-Suwaidani, who spent years imprisoned in Saydnaya Prison and was among the few who survived until 8 December 2024, when the Assad regime fell.

The film follows Mohammed from his hometown of Al-Sanamayn in the Daraa countryside, where he begins to recount the first moments of his arrest on the Damascus–Daraa highway. His journey then leads back to Saydnaya Prison—the place where he believed he would die.

For the first time as a free man, Mohammed opens the prison gate with his own hands and walks inside. He is overwhelmed by conflicting emotions: relief and joy at having survived, but also profound grief for those who never left, having been tortured and killed within its walls.

He returns to the cell where he was once held and begins to relive the memories of the long years he endured alongside thousands of other detainees in one of Syria’s most notorious prisons.

The documentary’s premiere received coverage from several online news outlets, which highlighted both the screening and the audience’s reactions. Viewers described a powerful mix of emotions, as the film brought back memories of the pain, loss, and experiences endured throughout the years of the Syrian conflict. Others expressed hope that documentaries like this would receive wider exposure, emphasizing the importance of telling the stories of Syrian communities and preserving the memory of a period marked by both profound tragedy and remarkable resilience.

The production team spent three months developing the documentary, from writing the screenplay and preparing for filming to selecting the participants and listening to dozens of testimonies from former detainees, families of martyrs, displaced people, fighters, and survivors of war injuries.

Filming took place under a variety of conditions across several locations in southern Syria, including Daraa al-Balad, Ghabagheb, Al-Sanamayn, Nawa, the Damascus–Daraa highway, and Saydnaya Prison.

These photographs capture moments from behind the scenes during the production of the documentary. I was part of the film’s production team, serving as the screenwriter and a member of the directing team.