Birds of War (Janay Boulos, Alkader Habak) Great Britain, Lebanon |

Birds of War
Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak
Great Britain, Lebanon. 2026. 85 min

BIRDS OF WAR follows London-based Lebanese journalist, Janay, and Syrian activist Habak over 13 years, using personal archives to tell a love story across war, revolutions and exile.

Young BBC reporter Janay Boulos first contacts Syrian cameraman Abd Alkader Habak (“Habak”) for footage during the final months of the four-year battle for Aleppo in 2016, one of the bloodiest and most decisive turning points in Syria’s brutal civil war.

Their professional relationship deepens as Janay discovers more about the extraordinary young man documenting the violence for her reports. Through texts, video exchanges, voice messages, and shared moments from afar, the bond between them strengthens, while at the same time Habak’s world becomes increasingly perilous amid chemical attacks and continuous bombardment.

When an act of compassion puts Habak in danger and he is forced to flee Syria, he and Janay’s relationship enters a new phase: for the first time, they meet in person, in Turkey. Distance, war, cultural differences and familial judgements temporarily fade as the two wrap themselves in a cocoon of safety, away from the terror back home. Still, they are never far from the question that would soon enough come to haunt them: Would it be possible for two people from such disparate worlds to build a life together?

JANAY BOULOS

Janay Boulos is a Lebanese journalist and filmmaker with extensive experience documenting the Middle East. From 2012-2021, she worked for BBC News across television, radio and digital platforms. In 2021, she founded Habak Films with Syrian filmmaker Abd Alkader Habak. Janay has produced documentaries for BBC News and Al Jazeera Arabic, bringing Middle Eastern stories to global audiences. Her professional development includes IDFA Project Space, Documentary Campus Masterschool, and Sheffield DocFest’s Future Producer School. In 2023, she received the IDA Logan Elevate grant.

ABD ALKADER HABAK

Abd Alkader Habak (“Habak”) brings first-hand experience as a Syrian cinematographer who documented the Syrian conflict over six years (2011- 2017). Working in dangerous environments, he collaborated with BBC and CNN as cameraman and field producer. His work during the siege of Aleppo—before fleeing in 2017—resulted in extraordinary archive footage documenting the Syrian revolution and war. Now London-based, Habak continues in documentary. His recent short “Syria’s Last Chapter” was commissioned by Al Jazeera Witness (December 2024). He is also in production with a feature documentary called “Until the Buzzing Stops”.