Thursday, October 10 at 6:30 p.m.: Sneak Preview + Q&A with director Waad Alkateab to follow, hosted by Madlin Sadler, Chief Operating Officer of the International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Friday, October 11 at 6:30 p.m.: Q&A with director Waad Alkateab moderated by Negar Tayyar, founder of Choose Love
Saturday, October 12 at 6:30 p.m.: Q&A with director Waad Alkateab moderated by Samah Ali, Sr. Programmer at DOC NYC
In the early hours of February 6, 2023, a devastating earthquake measuring 7.8 struck a vast region of Turkey and Syria that resulted in over 55,000 deaths and illustrated the destructive instability that had torn this region apart. DEATH WITHOUT MERCY, directed by Waad Al-Kateab, is a powerful record of the disaster from the personal perspective of two Syrian families searching for their loved ones over 10 days in the earthquake’s aftermath. The shock of this disaster soon gives way to a damning record of human failure highlighting official incompetence and the lack of humanitarian aid impeding the search for these survivors. Through intimate first-hand survivor footage from under the rumble interwoven with television news reports, social media interaction, and closed circuit tv and drone footage, the film is at once a moving testament to human dignity and a heartfelt tribute to the lives that have been lost in this catastrophic event.