Landmark Documentary Presents Assyrian Story of Survival

For the vast majority, incorrectly locating Assyria on a modern world map has proven to be one of the greater paradoxes that have plagued the region historically referred to as the Fertile Crescent. Yet this formidable superpower, which flourished from the 10th to the 7th century BC, is not only relegated to the realms of the ancient world nor to superficial ancient maps. Indeed, Assyria endures in the contemporary psyche of the people of its namesake.

Today, enclaves of Assyrians form an ethnic group indigenous to a contiguous geographical area encompassing one of the planet’s most politically volatile regions. Consequently, this very volatility was the trigger for the mass exodus of these peoples and so was established a prosperous and proud transnational diaspora committed to reimagine and reinvigorate the West’s understanding of the Near East, and particularly of Assyrians, beyond the intricate material remains that embellish the walls of its museums.

At their height, the Assyrians founded a vast empire, whose riches were once the envy of the ancient world. With its collapse, Assyria was confronted with waves of successive conquests by proximate rivals driving the Assyrians deep within their majestic mountains. However, from conquest and destruction that threatened to eradicate their glorious past, there flourished a new golden age of Assyrian literature and art.

Despite the shifts in Assyria’s sovereignty and religious thought — Assyrians’ sense of identity helped these remnants of the ancient past counter the advent of adversity and its aftermath. Their language, literature, and art became the weapon of resistance and defiance, the unifying lifeblood of modern Assyrian culture. The strength and character of Assyria’s heritage thus endured, even thrived throughout the ages.

The adjacent terrain straddling northern Iraq, north-western Iran, south-eastern Turkey and north-eastern Syria (effectively Assyria and northern Mesopotamia) tell a story as old as time. A tale enriched with dusty ruins, artwork of unimaginable beauty and fragments of a thriving culture that could only truly emerge out of the sands of the most important crossroad of the ancient world.

Assyria A.D. takes viewers on a remarkable journey and delves into the complex history of the Assyrian cultural identity. It contends with the rise and fall of a once-mighty nation predestined to be extirpated and explores how this Cradle of Civilisation inevitably gave way to modern geopolitical discourse. But most importantly perhaps, this ground-breaking documentary paints a portrait of an ambitious land and a resilient people, constantly intermeshing legend with its real history to produce an intoxicating folkloric narrative.

Assyria A.D. is an ACSYA Inc. production and is expected to be released in April 2021.