Filmed in striking black-and-white, Alina Gorlova’s documentary film, This Rain  Will Never Stop (2020), observes the endless cycle of war and peace by following the story of a Syrian-Ukrainian Red Cross worker, Andriy Suleyman. Fleeting the Syrian civil war, Andriy and his Kurdish family start a new life in a small town in eastern Ukraine only to be caught up in another military conflict. Following Andriy back to his homeland, the film takes the viewer on a journey from Ukraine to Iraq, Syria, and Germany, fleeting war zones, military parades, humanitarian missions, refugee camps, cultural, religious, and funeral customs. Along with other prestigious awards, the film won the IDFA Award for Best First Appearance at the 2020 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. 

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Yuliya V. Ladygina, Helena Rubinstein University Endowed Fellow in the Humanities and assistant professor of Slavic and global and international studies at Penn State.