Black Stones

For two years, two hospital workers in Homs documented life during the siege of the Syrian city. As freedom fighters clash with Assad's troops, 7,000 residents are trapped in the middle until they are finally allowed to leave in 2014. Two thousand don't make it out. We see people hiding and running between buildings—walking can be fatal in a city filled with sharpshooters. With the regime's soldiers attacking daily, bullets and bombs continue to flatten the city. But even under these extraordinary circumstances, life goes on between the rubble and dust: there's still joking around, gardening, playing in the snow, watching soccer or just having a laugh. And get ready for some real gallows humor in the Homs promotional video the cameramen decide to shoot, which praises the ruined city as a fine vacation destination.