During the 1970s, Bashar's father, Hafez al-Assad, turned Syria into one of the world's most secretive and repressive dictatorships. But Bashar was supposed to be different. A doctor who had lived in London, he vowed to fight corruption and embrace globalization in his inaugural address as president. He was supposed to be a modern, liberal leader. Just over a decade later, the Assad regime is reeling. It has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of its citizens—protesters no longer willing to accept repression and insisting on the same freedoms that other nations have gained through the revolutions of the 2011 Arab spring. What happened?

SYRIA: THE ASSADS' TWILIGHT is a history of the Assad regime, from its origins to its teetering, possibly final days in 2011. The Assads have been nothing if not survivors. In 1982, Hafez ruthlessly crushed an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood (the film shows us rare photos of property damage during the battles—the only record of an otherwise invisible massacre by security forces). In contrast, soon after coming to power in 2000, Bashar ushered in the Damascus Spring—a flowering of dissent and openness. But when it seemed to threaten his rule, he banned all opposition and tightened his family's grip on the reins of wealth and power.

SYRIA: THE ASSADS' TWILIGHT recounts the history of the regime and the region—including the tortured and troubled history of Syrian involvement in Lebanon. The film uses archival footage, as well as the testimony and analysis of members of the US and Israeli security establishment, key politicians, dissidents (among them members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood) and political scientists. What emerges is a picture of a regime that has been at the centre of Middle East politics for two generations—but is now on the verge of being swept away, along with other corrupt dictatorships in the region.

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Select Accolades

• 2012 MESA FilmFest, Middle East Studies Association