In this gripping drama inspired by real events, an endangered musician in a Syrian town controlled by ISIS must sell his beloved piano in order to escape the country. The film marks the feature debut of Columbia University-trained, Lebanese writer-director Jimmy Keyrouz and is an expansion of his 2016 Student Academy Award-winning short “Nocturne in Black.” Boasting a score by Keyrouz’s famous compatriot Gabriel Yared and a Cannes 2020 label designation, the film combines real-life crisis, potent emotion and an ending of stunning defiance.
In Sekka, 20-something pianist Karim shares a bombed-out building with his cousin Maya, and many other neighbors of assorted ages and occupations, some of whom belong to an underground resistance opposing ISIS. Since playing or listening to music is one of many things forbidden by the extremist group, Karim plans to pay a smuggler to get him to Europe, where he hopes to fulfill his dream of performing with an orchestra.
Directors Biography
Jimmy Keyrouz is is a graduate from the Screenwriting/Directing Master in Fine Arts program at Columbia University and is the director of the short films “Mischievous” (2013) and “Nocturne in Black” (2016) and the feature documentary The Holy Goats (2018) and the feature Broken Keys (2021).
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