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Syrian School

Bill Locke

Max Baring

Syrian School: Episode 3: Being Inspired

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Being Inspired

Episode 3

Episode 3: Being Inspired

BBC Four - Syrian School, Being Inspired

Ala and Lemiss recite their poems at Zaki Al-Arsouzi Girls' School's writers' showcase.

Series following a year in the life of four schools in Damascus. At Zaki Al-Arsouzi's writers' showcase, Ala hopes her poems are good enough for the big stage.

Five-part series following a year in the life of four schools in Damascus, a high pressure crossroads in the Middle East.

It concentrates on some remarkable characters finding their way in a country that has never before opened ordinary life up to the cameras in this way, challenges the usual cliches of Arab life and charts the highs and lows of the school year.

As a teenage girl it isn't easy to find ways to express yourself in Syria, but there's one outlet that is releasing a wave of emotion in Zaki Al-Arsouzi Girls' High School - the poetry society. Under the stimulating teaching of Mr Muhanned the girls can talk freely about their dreams, of love and hope, away from the constraints of wider society.

Now they will do it in public, at the school's writers' showcase. Ala hopes her heartfelt love poems, inspired by a failed relationship she struck up by mobile phone, are good enough for the big stage, while a trip to the October War Panorama museum drives Lemiss to write of the love she feels for her country.

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Series following a year in the life of four schools in Damascus

Five-part series following a year in the life of four schools in Damascus, a high pressure crossroads in the Middle East.

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