My guests today are Daood AL-Lab-dulaa and Louse Zenker and their Oscar-qualified short film WALUD.

Daood Alabdulaa, born in the Syrian desert in 1994, and after fleeing Syria in 2014, he sought asylum in Germany and now studies directing at HFF Munich, focusing on Middle Eastern social issues.

Louise Zenker, also born in 1994, grew up in a village in southern Germany. After earning a Master's in Communication Sciences, she began working in German television in 2019.

In 2021, she started studying feature film directing at HFF Munich.. Zenker has collaborated with Alabdulaa on both documentary and fiction projects, including Fata Morgana.

WALUD, a short film co-directed by Daood Alabdulaa and Louise Zenker, has officially qualified for the 2026 Academy Awards and continues its successful international festival run. Set in the rural Syrian desert during the height of ISIS control, the film is a stark, visually striking exploration of womanhood, power, and survival under extreme patriarchy.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Oscar-Qualified short filmWALUD, co-directed by Daood Alabdulaa and Louise Zenker, is set in the rural Syrian desert during the height of ISIS control, the film is a stark, visually striking exploration of womanhood, power, and survival under extreme patriarchy.

In 2014, Amuna lives in isolation with her husband, ISIS fighter Aziz. When he brings home a second wife, Alina, a young European convert, Amuna’s fragile world begins to unravel. WALUD explores infertility, female social dependence, and the emotional complexities of life under oppressive systems. Its title, an Arabic word meaning “able to give life,” underscores the film’s central theme of female fertility.

WALUD is tense, it is heartbreaking, it will make you feel angry, empathy, sympathy and compassion all at the same time.

In your current world, women are being attacked and judged and there is no reason for it. WALUD shows us that there are parts of our world in which the treatment of women and their womanhood harken back to the medieval times and it’s 2025.

WALUD contains all the elements of an award winning film. The writing is excellent, the acting is stellar and you feel every thought and emotion of the characters. The cinematography is beautiful, even when the setting is the stark terrain of the Syrian desert.

Everyone needs to see this film and this film needs to be shown before the United Nations. Women of all races, cultures and religions should be celebrated, not regulated down or treated like a subspecies.

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