For more than a decade, hundreds of thousands of families of Syria’s disappeared have lived in agony and uncertainty about the fate of their loved ones. They have spent years moving between hope and despair, waiting for news, and refusing to give up on those they love.
Maybe Tomorrow emerges from this reality.
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab and Syrian activist Wafa Mustafa, the short documentary follows Wafa’s search for her father, Ali Mustafa, who was arrested and forcibly disappeared by the Assad regime in 2013.
Through Wafa’s journey, Maybe Tomorrow explores the emotional reality of enforced disappearance: the impossibility of mourning without confirmation, the burden of unanswered questions, and the determination to keep searching despite overwhelming odds. As Wafa says, “We only exist if we are remembered”.
Today, more than 177,000 people are documented to be missing or forcibly disappeared in Syria. When the Assad regime collapsed in December 2024, marking a historic turning point, its extensive network of detention centers was thrown open. For the first time in years, there was a possibility that information, documents, and evidence could emerge from institutions that had long operated in secrecy, and that perpetrators could finally be held to account.
Yet, families’ suffering has been made worse by the severe failures of international organizations and Syria’s interim authorities to support the victims of arbitrary detention. Vital evidence that could have been used for accountability was lost because of a lack of political will, delays, and neglect.
Today, people are still being arbitrarily detained by different actors and authorities in Syria. While an accurate number of cases is not yet known, Syrian human rights organizations continue to document hundreds of cases of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance across the country. Families in Suwayda, Quneitra and other areas are demanding answers about the fate of their loved ones, who have been arrested or forcibly disappeared during the past 18 months. Urgent and meaningful steps are now needed to establish truth and justice, hold those responsible accountable and end the crime of enforced disappearance once and for all.
Enforced disappearance does not end with the person who is taken. A generation of children of detainees has come of age carrying the consequences of loss, uncertainty, and exile. Yet, these young people have become some of the strongest voices calling for accountability, transforming personal loss into collective action.
Maybe Tomorrow is part of a broader movement led by families, survivors, and activists who refuse to let the disappeared be forgotten. The title captures a feeling familiar to so many:
Maybe tomorrow there will be justice.
Maybe tomorrow the truth will finally emerge.
Maybe tomorrow there will be a Syria free of enforced disappearance.
This film is dedicated to that hope, and to the determination that sustains it.
https://www.sheffdocfest.com/film/maybe-tomorrow
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