Because we see it in the news every day, we’ve become indifferent to the war in Syria. But war can never be normal. We believe that we have to remind the world that war is not the natural state in Syria and that Aleppo and all the other war-torn zones were once places of beauty and peace. We did that by using a technology that we have also long become accustomed to, in a way the audience has never seen it before.

The film starts with pictures from Aleppo before the war. After a few scenes that show how vivid and peaceful the city was, we see a young girl singing into the camera. Suddenly a bomb explodes and the screen goes black. From now on the cinema audience, with their regular 3D glasses, can switch between 2 different films simply by closing one eye or the other. Both films show scenes from Aleppo that always match each other in location, subject and perspective. But while one film shows the beautiful city of Aleppo before the war, the other shows the real face of war. The films focus on the life of the children of Aleppo now and then.

We used modern 3D cinema technology like it’s never been used before. We placed two different films above each other. One of the films only consisted of vertical light waves, while the other only consisted of horizontal ones. Both films showed scenes from Aleppo that always matched each other in location, subject and perspective. But whilst one film showed the beautiful city of Aleppo before the war, the other showed the real face of war. So by simply closing one eye or the other the audience with their regular 3D glasses could switch between the before and after pictures.