Rotten
The film tries too hard to sensationalize a real-life story that has already been sensationalized enough - the kind that's too strange for fiction - but in doing so undermines the narrative's own weirdness.
Tina Hassannia, Globe and Mail
A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile
Sign In For Love And Revolution
2015 · 1h 24m
Documentary
Directed by
Sophie Deraspe
Free account saves your watchlist and ratings.
A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile
Overview
There is no indication that this typical online flirtation between two strangers would turn into a case of shocking international intrigue. For months, Sandra in Montreal and Amina, a Syrian-American, bond romantically and intellectually. Encouraged by Sandra, Amina launches a blog called "A Gay Girl in Damascus," representing a marginalized voice in the Middle East on politics, religion, and sexuality. Rapidly garnering worldwide attention, Amina becomes something of a star blogger. But when Syria enters the Arab uprising of 2011, Sandra receives word that Amina has been kidnapped, and soon the search for Amina becomes a global concern and an even larger mystery to solve.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
Fresh
The film is reminiscent of Catfish in its essential circumstances of love and online deception, but it goes far deeper into how virtual lies cause tangible problems.
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
Fresh
Even those who followed Amina's rise and fall in the ultimately chastened media will find Gay Girl a nifty piece of detective work.
Mark Jenkins, NPR
Fresh
Sophie Deraspe's film is a compelling anatomy of an Internet hoax - one that grabbed headlines amid the revolutionary fervor of the Arab Spring.
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times
Fresh
Even knowing what I knew (or thought I knew) before seeing "A Gay Girl in Damascus," it's full of surprises.
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
More films
One Last Hug (2014)
Documentary · Not Rated
"One Last Hug" chronicles a three day summer camp for children learning to cope with the death of a loved one. With the guidance of trained professionals, grieving children as young as seven years old learn that their feelings are normal, and that by talking about them they can begin to heal. A testament to the healing power of shared ...
- Runtime
- 37m
- Director
- Irene Taylor
IMDb
7.2
Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids (2004)
Documentary · R
Documentary depicting the lives of child prostitutes in the red light district of Songachi, Calcutta. Director Zana Briski went to photograph the prostitutes when she met and became friends with their children. Briski began giving photography lessons to the children and became aware that their photography might be a way for them to lea...
- Runtime
- 1h 25m
- Director
- Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman
- Cast
- Avijit
IMDb
7.2
Rotten Tomatoes
95%
Metacritic
78
God's Ways (2006)
Documentary · N/A
A dual portrait of young drifters on the streets of Odessa, where every day seems the same and the future keeps getting further away.
- Runtime
- 1h 1m
- Director
- Eva Neymann
IMDb
6.8
Full Metal Village (2007)
Documentary · Not Rated
The film describes the microcosmos of the small village Wacken and shows the clash of the cultures, before and during the biggest heavy metal festival in Europe.
- Runtime
- 1h 30m
- Director
- Sung Hyung Cho
- Cast
- Uwe Trede, Lore Trede, Klaus H. Plähn
IMDb
7.1
Belfast Girls (2006)
Documentary · N/A
The film follows teenage girls Mairéad Mc Ilkenny and Christine Savage. The two young women live in the same city but at the same time in two different worlds, cut off from each other by high walls that separate people.
- Runtime
- 59m
- Director
- Malin Andersson
- Cast
- Mairéad Mc Ilkenny, Christine Savage
IMDb
6.4
I Served the King of England (2007)
Comedy · R
Prague, Czechoslovakia, during the inter-war period. Jan Dítě, a young and clever waiter who wants to become a millionaire, comes to the conclusion that to achieve his ambitious goal he must be diligent, listen and observe as much as he can, be always discreet and use what he learns to his own advantage; but the turbulent tides of hist...
- Runtime
- 1h 55m
- Director
- Jiří Menzel
- Cast
- Ivan Barnev, Oldřich Kaiser, Julia Jentsch
IMDb
7.3
Rotten Tomatoes
79%
Metacritic
72
My Sweet Little Village (1985)
Comedy · PG
The movie's main storyline follows the life of Otík, a young man, in a tight-knit village community. The sweet-tempered Otík works as an assistant truck driver with Mr. Pávek, his older colleague and practical-minded neighbor. Pávek's family takes care of Otík, whose parents are dead. However, the two coworkers become at odds over Otík...
- Runtime
- 1h 38m
- Director
- Jiří Menzel
- Cast
- János Bán, Marián Labuda, Zdeněk Svěrák
IMDb
7.8
Rotten Tomatoes
80%
Larks on a String (1990)
Comedy · Drama · Romance · N/A
In post-WWII Communist Czechoslovakia, several characters considered bourgeois are sentenced to work in a junkyard for rehabilitation. Among them is a young man who pines for a female convict.
- Runtime
- 1h 34m
- Director
- Jiří Menzel
- Cast
- Rudolf Hrušínský, Václav Neckář, Jitka Zelenohorská
IMDb
7.3
Cutting It Short (1981)
Comedy · N/A
Francin, manager of a small-town brewery, has a charming wife whose abundant blonde locks are an adornment to the town. Maryska looks ethereal but loves meat and beer, while Francin is an ascetic. The strict members of the brewery board of directors come to audit the accounts, but are diverted from concentrating on Francin's detailed r...
- Runtime
- 1h 33m
- Director
- Jiří Menzel
- Cast
- Magda Vášáryová, Rudolf Hrušínský, Petr Čepek
IMDb
8.0
The Snowdrop Festival (1984)
Comedy · Drama · N/A
An episodic film about the inhabitants of Kersko, their hardships and their joys, most prominently hunting. A lyrical and humorous adaptation of writings by Bohumil Hrabal.
- Runtime
- 1h 23m
- Director
- Jiří Menzel
- Cast
- Rudolf Hrušínský, Jaromír Hanzlík, Josef Somr
IMDb
7.5
Comments
Talk about the film with other members