In a desperate act to pursue his own happiness and physically free himself from the Syrian civil war, a young Syrian man, must fool his government and an American University administrator that he is a woman after he is chosen for an international women’s scholarship. 

SYNOPSIS:

RAMY (27) has become used to coping with the desperate war-torn realities in his hometown of Damascus, Syria. His daily commute to work is a maze of back alleys and multiple busses to avoid the Syrian Army conscript enforcement checkpoints throughout the city.

Ramy witnesses his neighborhood friend, KAMAL (27), taken by a group of Syrian Army conscript enforcers. Ramy escapes but Kamal does not.

Later that evening, Ramy has a vivid dream of a girl caught in a tug of war between her mother and three soldiers. He wakes to the rumble of a distant explosion.

The next afternoon, the same Syrian Army conscript enforcement team, that took Kamal, arrives at Ramy’s home demanding his enlistment. Ramy’s mother, LANA (50), fearing his unwanted recruitment, has Ramy dress as a woman before letting the soldiers in the house.

Ramy and his sister, SALMA (25), sit in the living room as the soldiers interrogate Lana as to Ramy’s whereabouts. They are relieved when the soldiers leave but Lana soberly assures him that they will be back. Ramy looks in the mirror and sees he looks like the girl in his dream.

Ramy, in sanctuary of his bedroom, builds a fake profile as “Noura” with a picture of him as a girl and sends it off in an application for an international scholarship at an American university.

He corresponds with JASON (30), th University administrator for the academic program, from Damascus, Maryland. Their friendship flourishes online and Lana catches Ramy acting weird and wonders if he likes dressing as a woman. Ramy shares that in Syria, he only feels free when he is asleep. Jason, a lonely, ordinary man, is excited by Noura and wants to help “her” get the scholarship.

Ramy loses his job and has an Army friend of his older brother who was also conscripted, tell him that he must do whatever it takes to keep from being conscripted. Ramy realizes that acting as Noura may be his only hope of escaping his inevitable fate while his mother is distraught that after catching Ramy dressed as a woman, may be gay.

Ramy sees that his only hope for a new life lies with a mandatory meeting at the American embassy in Beirut with Jason and proposes they meet in Lebanon. Despite his mother’s uncertainty about his sexuality, his sister’s chiding, and his uncle’s traditional disapproval, Ramy risks everything to pass through the border with his sister’s passport to meet Jason and interview for a chance at a new life.

After a few harrowing moments at the Lebanese border, Ramy passes as a woman into Lebanon and meets Jason. They are enamored with each other, but a disguise malfunction outs Ramy as a man. Jason is infuriated and leaves. Ramy is devastated and returns to the reality of his situation.

Ramy is found out as a man dressed as a woman and is arrested at the border. Ramy manages to escape the border guards and runs into the hills where the guards believe he is too much trouble to go after. Ramy realizes he can’t go back home and heads back into Beirut dead-set on waking up free and being true to his real self.

THE END