Movie Reviews: "A Sniper in Syria" is A Short Film with Powerful Editorial Results

The Sniper of Kobani

In the fascinating piece above, The Atlantic spoke to filmmaker Reber Dosky about his short documentary, The Sniper of Kobani. The documentary tells the story of Haron, a Kurdish sniper stationed in the Syrian town of Kobani. Haron lives a lonely life wandering through ruins, shooting with precision for the purpose of killing to not be killed, and contemplating about the future.

Dosky, a dedicated filmmaker, endangered his life by making this short, and watched Haron face intense and difficult moments such as checking the dead bodies of those he shot. Ultimately, though, Dosky is glad he could share Haron’s story with the world. It gives a frightening perspective on the type of life a person can endure when born into a war-torn country.

This short film is part of The Atlantic Selects, a showcase of short films curated by the magazine/multi-platform publisher. Curating short films such as this moving documentary shows how the publishing industry is using video to achieve powerful editorial results. People are stirred by the video thus giving the publisher the views and editorial results they desire, which hopefully in turn will make people more sympathetic to the plights of the people around them.