A Flood in Baath Country

A Flood in Baath Country
طوفان في بلد البعث
Déluge au Pays du Baas
Original French release poster
Directed byOmar Amiralay
Narrated byOmar Amiralay
CinematographyMeyar al-Roumi, Siwar Zirkli, Khalil Salloum
Edited byChantal Piquet, Fabio Balducci
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • Doc & Co
  • Arab Film Distribution
Release date
  • 2003 (2003)
Running time
47 minutes
CountriesSyria, France
LanguageArabic with French subtitles

A Flood in Baath Country (Arabic: طوفان في بلد البعث, romanized: Ṭoufān fi Balad al-Bʿṯ) is a Syrian documentary film by the director Omar Amiralay, released in 2003 and premiered in 2004 at the Beirut Cinema Days Festival. The film, Amiralay's last, criticizes the Baa'thist regime in Syria, particularly the Tabqa Dam construction project and the party's impact on political life and education in the country. In A Flood in Baath Country, Amiralay repurposes footage from his first film to criticize his initial enthusiasm for the Ba'ath Party. Though banned in Syria like most of Amiralay's films, A Flood in Baath Country was readily available domestically on pirate DVD. After a satellite broadcast of the film was seen by Syrian viewers, Amiralay was arrested and restricted from leaving the country. A Flood in Baath Country has been acclaimed by critics and scholars of film, and won the award for the best short film at the 2004 Biennale des films arabes in Paris.