Dounia

Dounia is 6 years old. She lives in Aleppo, a thousand-year-old legendary city in the heart of the world. But one day, war breaks out… So she leaves Aleppo with a few nigella seeds in her hand. With the help of the princess of Aleppo, Dounia makes the journey to a new world…

Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo is an animated feature film where reality and magic meet. Created and written by Marya Zarif, directed by Marya Zarif and André Kadi, and produced by Judith Beauregard, it tells the story of the migratory journey of a little girl and her grandparents, who leave the war, and with it, their city of Aleppo in Syria.  

Throughout her journey, Dounia, whose beautiful first name means “the world” in Arabic, is accompanied by the rich tales and music of her country. And, in the face of a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, the wisdom of the ancient world comes to rescue the girl in the form of her grandmother’s nigella seeds and the legends of the Levant.  

Dounia is a geopolitical story that is told at a child’s level, in which mythology, dream and magic permeate. It’s a quest of initiation that poetically and delicately tells the story of the exile and uprooting of war, while exploring current themes of migration, identity, dialogue of cultures, and living together.