JustWatch

A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile

2015 Directed by Sophie Deraspe

Sign In For Love And Revolution

There is no indication that this typical online flirtation between two strangers would turn into a case of shocking international intrigue. For months, Sandra in Montreal and Amina, a Syrian-American, bond romantically and intellectually. Encouraged by Sandra, Amina launches a blog called "A Gay Girl in Damascus," representing a marginalized voice in the Middle East on politics, religion, and sexuality. Rapidly garnering worldwide attention, Amina becomes something of a star blogger. But when Syria enters the Arab uprising of 2011, Sandra receives word that Amina has been kidnapped, and soon the search for Amina becomes a global concern and an even larger mystery to solve.

Nilay Olçay Sandra Bagaria Ali Abunimah Fady Atallah Andy Carvin Nathalie Claude Benjamin J. Doherty Liz Henry

Alternative Titles

The Amina Profile, Le Profil Amina, Profil: Amina

Genre

documentary

84 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Ese 👉 Víctor

[Spoilers for a film that's hard to find - probably for a reason]
I watched this as part of a mini-binge of this director's work - which is now over.
If you like all those Netflix real-crime thingies this is probably manna from heaven but if you take a step back and squint you'd have a hard time telling this film apart from the worse of those.
It doesn't help that the Bad Guy turns out to be just the most benign beta coward in the long history of benign beta cowards and that's all he is. Had me seriously doubting why I even watched it.
Review by Carolina

White men are trash, I said what I said
Review by JerryFreeman ★★★★½

Holy shit. You think you're getting into a PC-friendly film about religion vs. sexuality, but it turns into one of the most relevant films in recent memory. Watch this shit.
Review by Simon ★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Tom is just a misunderstood queer icon 🫶
Review by Viviane Carle

He got slayed trying to slay 💅#purr
-simon
Review by Charles-Antoine Plante ★★★½

In conclusion, white men on the internet suck
Review by ✨ Ale Lara ✨ ★★★½

🎬 GAY GIRL IN DAMASCO: THE AMINA PROFILE
(CAN 🇨🇦, 2015) Dir. Sophie Deraspe. 84 min.
Documentary based on a real life case of the so-called "Gay Girl in Damasco". An interesting profile of a blog that caught the attention of an international novel for being a woman, gay and living in Syria in the midst of a social movement to overthrow the dictator in power.
Strategically play and manage the images at your convenience and suddenly take a brutal turn that shakes the viewer, for better or for worse.
Interesting premise with its ups and downs for focusing more on a character and downplaying the context.
_____________________
Documental basado en un caso de la vida real de la denominada…
Review by Dudestroyer ★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

The best catfish episode yet.
Review by Sethumadhavan ★★★

This Canadian documentary by Sophie Deraspe is an expose of how the hoax of Amina Abdallah, a fictional lesbian character supposedly from Syria came into origin and how the hoax got exposed. Featuring Sandra Bagaria from Montreal who was in an online relationship with Amina (before realizing it was a hoax) and several people all across the Globe,this is quite a painstakingly researched docu film on quite an interesting topic. Definitely quite an engaging documentary.
Review by SAM ★★★

The subject is fascinating; I would not contest that. The treatment of it, however, is patronizing and self-indulgent.
There are quite the few moments in the narrative that have such emotional weight. Unfortunately, the needless, agonizingly "dreamy" footage of contrived, surreal "enactments" where nothing really happens often disrupt the flow. Which is funny, given how airy and wishy-washy those scenes are.
In particular, the film culminates in an important confrontation. A second into it, however, the confrontation is interrupted and silent, previously shown footage of a girl walking around is shown again for a minute or so.
It gets really tiring.
Review by Scott Renshaw ★★★

Alternately fascinating and frustrating—and sometimes for the same reasons—Sophie Deraspe’s documentary explores the story behind “Gay Girl in Damascus,” a blog that introduced the world to Amina Arraf, an out lesbian reporting on the “Arab Spring” uprisings in Syria in 2011. Sandra Bagaria began an online relationship with Amina at the same time, and the story builds to a moment when Sandra gets news that Amina has been kidnapped by Syrian secret police, launching an international effort to find her. The ensuing story echoes a documentary the mere name of which would spill too many beans, but Deraspe does take familiar ideas in some new directions, including the perils of sloppy journalism and big-picture consequences of sad human frailties. But…